You Must Do the Things You Think You Cannot
by Angel61400
Summary: Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with help along the way, search for the Horcruxes and battle Death Eaters and Voldemort.
1. And so it begins

_A/N: The story title (You Must Do the Things You Think You Cannot) is a saying by Eleanor Roosevelt._

**And so it begins**

Harry scanned the room one last time, checking to make sure he hadn't missed anything. Everything he had acquired over the years, minus Hedwig, who he had asked to stay at the Burrow while he was gone, was packed away in the trunk sitting on the floor by his cot.

He was currently standing in Ron's room at the Burrow. Harry had arrived at the Burrow about a month before, when he had been invited to Bill and Fleur's wedding.

The wedding had taken place in the Weasley's garden. While it was not unusual for a lot of people to be at the Burrow at one time, as the Weasley family was a large one, nothing could compare to the mass of people that had attended the wedding.

Fleur's family had consisted of her parents, sister, and grandparents, as well as, her aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Ron's eyes had almost popped out of his head when he had seen Fleur's female cousins, both of whom were part veela as well. Having seen his reaction, Hermione had stomped off in a huff. Harry, who had seen Hermione, had stomped on Ron's foot and drawn Ron's attention to Hermione. When Ron saw Hermione running away, he had blushed red, in embarrassment or shame or both, Harry wasn't sure which, and had run after her, calling her name. No one saw them again until they resurfaced, holding hands, several hours later, looking disheveled and very happy.

The Weasley family had also included Bill's parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins; although, there were still many more Weasleys than Delacours.

In addition to the Weasleys and Delacours, several Order members had been invited, including Lupin and Tonks who seemed attached at the hip these days.

The sound of the door creaking open broke Harry out of his thoughts.

Ron walked into the room, his hair standing on end and his clothes in disarray.

"Have fun?" Harry asked, smirking at the expression on Ron's face.

"Yes," Ron answered happily, sitting down on the edge of his bed, which was still covered by a Chudley Cannons comforter, just as it had been the first time Harry had walked into this room.

While Harry thought back to the things that had and hadn't changed over the last few years, Ron's thoughts turned to Bill and Fleur's wedding which Ron would always remember as the day he and Hermione told each other how they felt.

* * *

_Harry and Ron had been standing by the punch bowl when Fleur's two female cousins walked by them. Harry smirked as Ron's eyes widened and stood gawking at the two girls. _

_"Ouch!" Ron cried, his foot throbbing where Harry had stomped on it. "What did you do that for?"_

_Harry nodded toward Ron's right and Ron turned in time to see Hermione turn swiftly and run off toward the Burrow._

Oh, no _Ron groaned silently. "Hermione, please wait!" Ron yelled, shoving his drink into Harry's hand and running after Hermione._

_Hermione, who had a head start, was able to reach the house, slam the door to Ginny's room, and perform a locking charm, seconds before Ron tried, unsuccessfully, to twist the door knob._

_"Hermione, please open the door," Ron pleaded, silently willing the door to open._

_Ron waited a minute and was about to ask again, when the door finally creaked open. Ron glanced into the room, and saw Hermione retreating over to her cot. _

_He approached her slowly and hesitantly sat beside her._

_Ron sat silently for several minutes unsure of what to say. Finally, Hermione spoke, turning toward Ron._

_"Are you going to ask one of them out?" Hermione asked, her voice trembling._

_"What?" Ron was confused; he had thought that Hermione and he had silently agreed that it was only a matter of time before they started dating. She had even gone as far as to tell him that she had stopped writing to Viktor. So, why was she asking him if he was going to date someone else instead?_

_"They are your type," Hermione said, her voice not losing its tremble._

_"My type?" Ron asked, unsure of what she meant. _

_"Well, when you met Fleur, you goggled at her. You dated Lavender. Now, you were leering at Fleur's cousins," Hermione said, her voice becoming more sad and disappointed sounding by the minute._

_"That doesn't mean I have a type," Ron replied._

_"Oh, yes it does. Fleur, her cousins, and Lavender all have blonde hair and are beautiful," Hermione answered, a sob ending her reply. _

_Ron looked at her and saw that she was looking away from him again. Ron reached out and brushed his finger against her cheek, turning her head back toward him. He tilted her head up so that her eyes met his._

_"I don't really know what you want me to say Hermione," Ron said, sad to see tears in her eyes._

_"You don't have..." Hermione began looking down._

_"But," Ron said, interrupting her, "I do want to say that you're wrong. About two things actually."_

_Hermione looked at him, unsure of what he was talking about._

_"Shocking isn't it? That you're wrong, I mean. Never thought I'd see the day," Ron said, smiling softly._

_Hermione couldn't help herself and smiled slightly as well._

_"First, let me just say that if you don't think you are beautiful, then, you are so wrong Hermione," Ron said, correctly guessing one of the reasons Hermione was so upset about his supposed attraction to 'beautiful blondes.'_

_Hermione shook her head. "I am not wrong about that," she said, sadly._

_"You **are** wrong about that Hermione. You're very beautiful. I don't see how you can't see that," Ron said determinedly, even though the tips of his ears were turning red. _

_"No, I am not," Hermione repeated, stubbornly. "Why do you think that I care so much about doing well in school? Being smart is all I am. I'm not beautiful or funny, but I am smart. So, I try as hard in school as I do and read as much as I do because I don't have anything else going for me," Hermione said, close to tears again._

_Part of Ron had realized she did think she wasn't attractive. But, it still shocked him to see that he had been right. _How could she think that she wasn't attractive? _Ron thought. _She's mental. Of course she's beautiful.

_"You might not think you are Hermione, but you are. If I have to spend the rest of my life convincing you of that, I will," Ron said, knowing that her stubbornness would not let her believe that she was beautiful, at least not yet. Ron looked forward to showing her that she was._

_"You said I was wrong about two things. What's the other thing?" Hermione asked, wanting to change the subject._

_"Impatient aren't we?" Ron teasingly asked._

_Hermione shrugged at looked Ron in the eyes, waiting for him to continue. _

_"You think that I have a 'type,' but you're wrong," Ron said, getting the nerve to continue with what he wanted to tell her. "If I did only like blondes, then, I wouldn't care about you the way I do. And I _do_ care about you Hermione. I...I love you," Ron whispered, before bringing his lips down on hers. _

_They kissed for several minutes, but stopped when Hermione pressed her hand lightly against Ron's chest. _

_"I love you, too, Ron," Hermione said, hugging him around his chest and resting her head on his shoulder._

_Ron smiled and returned the hug._

_"Oh!" Hermione said, pushing away from him and getting off the cot. "I wanted to give you something." She walked over toward her trunk and started digging through it, searching for something, but Ron wasn't sure what._

_"What is it?" Ron asked, trying to see what Hermione had taken out of her trunk and had hidden behind her back._

_"Well, I had gotten you something for last Christmas, but we were fighting at the time so I was too mad to give it to you before," Hermione said, putting the perfectly wrapped present into Ron's hands. _

_"I got you a present, too. Let me go get it, it's in my room," Ron said, putting the present Hermione had handed him on the cot beside him and walking toward the door and up the stairs to his room._

_Ron walked over to his desk drawer and drew out the not-so-perfectly wrapped present. He turned around and was about to head back to Ginny's room when he saw Hermione standing in his doorway with his present in her hands._

_Ron smiled and sat down on his bed, patting the spot beside him. Hermione smiled back at him and walked over to his bed and sat down in the spot he had indicated._

_They switched presents and Hermione nodded at Ron, signaling him to open his present first. _

_Ron looked down at the present, and tore the paper, much like children did on Christmas morning, until he uncovered a white box. _

_"Open it," Hermione said._

_Ron nodded and opened the box. Inside was a bunch of chocolate frogs. "Uh...thanks Hermione," Ron said, a little disappointed. This was a gift someone would give a friend. The present he had got for Hermione had been more than something a friend would get another friend._

_"That's not all," Hermione said, able to tell that Ron was disappointed. "See the two chocolate frogs with orange stickers on them? Open those."_

_Ron drew out the two containers and set the box of chocolate frogs on the other side of him, the side Hermione was not occupying. He noticed that these two chocolate frog containers were lighter than they usually were. Laying one of them in his lap, he opened one of the containers. The chocolate frog was gone, but the wizarding card remained in the container. Picking up the card, Ron was shocked, but very happy about what he saw._

_"That's Agrippa," Hermione said, "You once said you didn't have that one."_

_"Yeah, thanks Hermione," Ron said, still looking down at the card in wonder._

_"You still have one left," Hermione reminded him._

_Ron carefully put the Agrippa card down and picked up the other container wondering, and hoping, that he was correct in guessing what the other contained._

_"Ptolemy," Ron whispered, staring at the other card. _

_"You said you didn't have that one either," Hermione said, happy that Ron seemed to like the gift._

_"How did you find these?" Ron asked, looking up from the card and at Hermione._

_"Well, during the past summer I had brought chocolate frogs home for my cousins, the few that know I am a witch. They really liked them, but I asked that if any of them got an Agrippa or Ptolemy card, if they would please give the card to me, because my friend was missing them. As luck would have it, my cousin, Alexia, got the Agrippa card. I'm glad it was her, she is the sweetest of my cousins, so I knew I wouldn't have to fight her for it," Hermione added jokingly._

_Ron smiled. "What about Ptolemy?"_

_"I got it from Ernie Macmillan," Hermione answered. Before she could continue, Ron interrupted her._

_"I bet that's because he fancies you," Ron announced, angrily, not so keen on the Ptolemy card anymore._

_"No, he doesn't," Hermione replied, amused by Ron's reaction. "He spends a lot of time with Hannah Abbott. Haven't you ever noticed that? They've been together for about two years now."_

_"Oh," Ron said, looking at the card with interest once again. "Thank you Hermione, this is a great present."_

_Hermione smiled, then turned to her own present. Hermione opened her present more slowly and with more care then Ron had. Her present, too, was contained within a box. Laying the paper aside, Hermione opened the jewelry box and gasped. Inside the box was the most beautiful bracelet Hermione had ever seen._

_"It's made of jade," Ron supplied. "Jade is the birthstone for the Star Sign of Virgo. Since your birthday is in September, Virgo is your Star Sign. It's also used as a talisman for good fortune and friendship, as well as to protect the wearer from evil while traveling and to promote wisdom and ensure a long life. I thought it was fitting," Ron said, smiling sheepishly. "It also has rune symbols carved in to it. The person I bought it from said that they were symbols for love, friendship, good fortune, wisdom, and life."_

_Hermione nodded, looking down at the bracelet, her fingers skimming lovingly over the etchings. "It's beautiful. Thank you, I love it."_

_Ron returned the smile and set his chocolate frog cards and containers back into the box and onto his night stand. Turning back to Hermione he took the bracelet from her and separated the clasp. Realizing what Ron was planning on doing, Hermione brought her arm up and held it in front of him. Ron slipped the bracelet around her wrist, and closed the clasp. Bending his neck slightly, Ron tenderly kissed Hermione's inner wrist. Hermione gasped and their eyes met. _

_Ron wound one arm around her waist and slid his other hand into her hair. He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. At the sound of her moan, he became bolder and deepened the kiss. They were soon sprawled across his bed, Hermione on her back, her head on his pillow, and Ron lying next to her. _

_They continued to kiss for several more minutes, until Hermione pushed lightly on his chest. Ron broke the kiss and looked questioningly down at her. _

_"We should go back to the reception," Hermione said, answering his silent question. _

_Ron was disappointed, but nodded and sat up on the edge of the bed. He was trying to right his clothing when he heard Hermione exclaimed "Ouch!"_

_"What's wrong?" Ron asked, looking over at her. _

_"I don't know, something pulled my hair," Hermione said, her hand reaching behind her back to feel around at her hair. _

_"Here, let me help," Ron began, trying to get her to turn around._

_"No," she interrupted, "I got it." _

_Hermione's arm reemerged from behind her back, her hand holding the offending item. _

_When Hermione opened her hand, Ron was horrified to see what she had found._

_In her hand was the "My Sweetheart" necklace Lavender had gotten him for Christmas._

_Hermione's nose wrinkled and she looked down at the thing in disgust. "What is this?" she asked, looking up from the necklace to Ron._

_Ron cringed. "It's the present Lavender got me for Christmas." _Here is comes _he thought._

_"And you were sleeping with this under your pillow?" Hermione questioned, raising her eyebrow and still not taking her eyes off Ron._

_"Yeah, but not really, I forgot it was there," Ron said, preparing himself for her inevitable anger at him._

_"Well," Hermione began. _

_Ron was now preparing himself for the worst. _

_"Why aren't you wearing it?" Hermione said, amused._

What?_ Ron thought to himself. He had definitely not been expecting this kind of response. If anything, this response was worse because he had no idea how to deal with it. "What?"_

_"Why aren't you wearing it?" Hermione repeated, smiling now. "It's cute."_

Cute? _Ron thought disgusted. _Cute was the last thing he would have called it. What is it with girls? He would never understand them. _Before he had the chance to answer Hermione he was torn out of his thoughts by the sound of her laughing. _Wait a minute...

_"You're taking the mickey aren't you?" Ron asked half embarrassed at Hermione finding Lavender's present under his pillow and half frustrated at Hermione's continued laughing._

_Gasping for breathe, Hermione could only nod in response._

_Ron just watched her and, when she renewed her laughing, began to wonder at her sanity. _I'm been saying it for years, she's mental _he thought to himself, as Hermione clutched at a stitch in her side._

_"I'm sorry, Ron," Hermione managed to get out after her laughter subsided. "It's just that you should have seen the look on your face. Then, I started to imagine what face you had made when you opened this on Christmas." Hermione giggled again._

_"Well, I'm glad you found my face amusing," Ron grumbled._

_Hermione bit her lip to keep from laughing at this. "Ah, come on, Ron. I'm sorry." Hermione leaned in and, for the first time, initiated a kiss._

_When Ron felt Hermione's warm tongue brush against his lips, he groaned and forgot all about his annoyance._

* * *

_That day had gotten them to where they were now, or rather_ Ron thought, as he was now standing in his bedroom at the Burrow, _where he and Hermione had been a few minutes ago_. 

_They had gone down to the river that ran not far from the Burrow, so they could have some privacy. The Burrow was too crowded for them to spend time alone without interruptions. _

_Ron moaned against Hermione's lips as her nails scratched lightly across his back. _

_In response, Ron brought his right hand to the hem of her shirt, and slowly slid his hand under her shirt, until he felt her soft skin._

_When she felt Ron's hand touching her under her shirt, Hermione froze._

_Ron felt her response and mumbled a "Sorry" against her lips before withdrawing his hand. _

_Hermione pushed Ron off of her and sat up._

_"What?" Ron asked, unsure of how offended Hermione had been. Before he could apologize again for upsetting her, Hermione reached for the hem of her shirt, pulled it off, and laid back down, drawing Ron on top of her again._

_Ron was amazed but very happy about the change of events. Hermione had never taken her shirt off in front of him before. Seeing Hermione's breasts incased in a blue lacy bra caused a jolt of pleasure to shoot through Ron. He groaned in pleasure when he felt Hermione's soft breasts pressing against his chest. _

_Ron brought his lips to the right side of Hermione's neck and began alternately kissing and sucking. He pulled away and saw that his efforts had been rewarded by a love bite that was quickly forming on Hermione's neck. _

_Hermione caught his lips in a kiss and Ron, again, brought his right hand to Hermione's waist. This time she did not freeze and instead moaned sweetly. Encouraged, Ron slid his right hand up Hermione's stomach until he reached her bra. He hesitated at this point, unsure of how far she wanted to go. In response to his hesitation, Hermione surged up, pressing herself into Ron's hand, which had been hovering inches above her breast._

_Her moan at the feeling of Ron cupping her breast mingled with the groan Ron made when he felt her soft, firm breast pressing against his hand. _

_Feeling bolder, Ron slid his other hand under Hermione, attempting, clumsily, to undo her bra._

_Hermione stopped him at this point, both panted, trying to catch their breaths when they broke apart._

_"We should stop now, Ron. It's getting late. I don't want your mum to come out here and find us."_

_"You're right," Ron said, regretfully. He pulled away from Hermione and sat up. He watched as she slipped her shirt back on and attempted to fix her disheveled hair. _

_Ron got to his feet and held out a hand for Hermione, pulling her up from the blanket spread out on the ground._

_Hermione began to make her way back toward the Burrow, but was stopped by Ron's strong arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her back against him. Turning to face him, she was about to ask him what he was doing, when she saw him bring his hand up to the back of her head and felt him lightly tugging on her hair._

_"Grass," Ron explained, showing her the grass that he had pulled out of her hair. _

_Hermione nodded, and watched as Ron resolutely, with a protective look on his face, continued to pull grass out of her hair. "I don't want Gred and Forge to tease you," Ron said, pulling the last piece of grass out of her hair._

_Hermione was touched by how caring and protective Ron was of her. She brought her hands up to his shoulders, and stood on tiptoe to kiss him. "Thank you, Ron. I love you."_

_Ron and Hermione walked back to the Burrow hand-in-hand. _

* * *

"I was down by the river with Hermione," Ron spoke up, unnecessarily, breaking Harry and himself out of their respective thoughts. 

"Obviously. You've come in here every night since Bill and Fleur's wedding looking like that," Harry replied, sitting down on his cot.

"I know," Ron answered, grinning happily at Harry.

Harry smiled in response to Ron's obvious happiness. Last year, he had been concerned about Ron and Hermione getting together, and what it would do to his friendship with them as well as their friendship with each other. After the whole incident with Lavender, however, Harry realized that their friendship would suffer more if Ron and Hermione weren't together.

The whole time Ron had dated Lavender, Ron and Hermione had been at each others throats or, even worse, ignoring each other totally. However, once Ron and Lavender had broken up, Ron and Hermione had stopped fighting. It didn't take a genius like Hermione, which Harry definitely wasn't, to realize, then, that Ron and Hermione were better together than they were apart.

"Hermione will meet us up here after Ginny goes to sleep. She said it will probably be sometime around 2 a.m.," Ron said, getting up to finish packing the possessions he was taking into his own trunk.

Harry nodded, lost in his thoughts again. Ginny had looked beautiful in the dress Fleur had chosen for her bridesmaids to wear. But, he guessed he was biased because he always thought she was beautiful.

He really missed her, having her as his girlfriend. Someday, after Voldemort was really and truly dead, he hoped she would be there, waiting for him. A part of him realized how selfish this thought was, but he couldn't help it. Aside from killing Voldemort and getting revenge against Snape and Pettigrew, a relationship with Ginny was something he desperately wanted.

"Are you all packed?" Ron asked, shoving one of his maroon jumpers into his trunk, just managing to close the bulging trunk.

"Yeah," Harry replied.

About a week after Dumbledore's funeral, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had began planning their journey to find the remaining Horcruxes. They had agreed from the beginning to keep their plans secret because they knew that if Mr. and Mrs. Weasley or the other Order members got wind of what they were going to do, they would surely be stopped.

To many people's surprise, Hogwarts was reopening in September, in time for the new school year. This year, however, was going to be different. Security was going to be much tighter. They had all been sent letters about what new security measures would be put into place in an attempt to alleviate the uneasiness some parents still felt about sending their children back.

One such security measure was the establishment of escape routes that would get the students and faculty safely out and away from Hogwarts in the event that it was attacked again. The students would have to participate in weekly, then once they were more familiar with the routes, monthly, "practice escapes," After enough practicing, they would eventually memorize all the escape routes out of the castle.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, had already agreed before they had known that Hogwarts was reopening that if it did reopen they would not return. They had all been anxious but weary of starting the search for the Horcruxes. After thinking about it, they had decided that they needed to wait until today, the day after Harry's birthday, because it would have been pointless to start their quest before Harry was allowed to legally do magic.

"Oh! I almost forgot," Ron announced, opening his desk drawer and rummaging through it before he pulled out what he had been looking for: a piece of parchment, a quill, and ink.

"What should I tell them?" Ron asked, at a loss of what to tell his parents, both of whom had been nervous about allowing him and Ginny, and Harry and Hermione for that matter, although they had no real authority over them, to return to Hogwarts. "You still want me to tell them about..." Ron began, his voice trailing off.

"Yeah. We need to tell someone, I guess. I trust your parents, so, they're the best choice," Harry answered.

Ron nodded. "I guess I'll also tell them the usual stuff, you know? That we had to do this and that we'll be careful," Ron said, dipping the quill into the ink before pressing it against the parchment and scribbling madly in his messy scrawl.

Ron spent about fifteen minutes writing the letter, which made Harry think he was writing more than the "usual stuff." Harry didn't ask though, realizing it was a private letter, one that Ron may feel uncomfortable about allowing others to read.

When Ron finally finished the letter, he stood up, stretched his arms above his head, and yawned. "We might as well sleep for a couple hours. Hermione shouldn't be up here for a while."

Harry agreed and climbed into his cot. He doubted, however, that he could sleep at all.

* * *

Harry realized he had been wrong when he had said he wouldn't be able to go to sleep, when, around 1:45 a.m., he was awakened three hours after he had fallen asleep by the sound of the door opening. 

Hermione turned and shut the door as quietly as possible. Turning back toward the room, she saw Harry sitting up in his bed.

"Hi, Harry," she whispered to him before heading over to Ron, who lay snoring in his own bed.

"Ron," she whispered, sitting on the edge of his bed.

Ron groaned in his sleep before suddenly grabbing Hermione around the waist, which caused her to fall across his chest.

"Ron, wake up," Hermione said, slapping Ron lightly on the shoulder, but smiling as she did so.

Ron cracked his eyes open and was delighted by the image in front of him. Hermione looked beautiful. Her hair was still damp from her shower, which meant that her hair was sweetly curled and lacked its normal bushiness, not that he didn't think her normally bushy hair wasn't attractive. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. In her arms was a traveling cloak with a hood, similar to the ones Harry and Ron had draped across the foot of their beds, ready to put on when they leave.

Harry and Ron both climbed out of their respective beds.

"Where's your trunk, Hermione?" Harry asked, having not seen it when she had come into the room. "Did you shrink it already?"

"Yeah, it's in my cloak pocket. It would have been too hard to drag it up here without making any noise."

Harry nodded. He and Ron proceeded to shrink their own trunks and stick them in their cloak pockets as well.

Harry looked around the room one last time, making sure they had everything.

"I think we're ready to go," he said, finally, looking to Ron and Hermione. They nodded their agreement.

Harry and Ron had both passed their apparition tests a few weeks before. Hermione had passed her test when it had been offered at Hogwarts the past year and so she had spent her time helping Harry and Ron so that they would pass their tests as well, as it would be easier to travel when they looked for the Horcruxes if they all knew how to apparate. Their hard work had paid off because Harry and Ron passed with very little difficulty.

Three cracks resounded through the room as Harry, Ron, and Hermione apparated to their first destination, Godric's Hollow.


	2. Unwelcome person

**Unwelcome person**

Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked quickly along the dark, rocky street, pulling their cloaks tighter around themselves to keep out the chilly night air.

Suddenly, Harry stopped and motioned toward an old, but well-maintained inn.

Harry had stopped so suddenly that Hermione, who had been walking right behind him, walked right into him and would have fallen over if Ron hadn't reacted quickly and grabbed Hermione's upper arms to steady her.

"Thanks," Hermione said, smiling at Ron. Ron returned her smile.

"Sorry, Hermione. I think this is the place," Harry said, motioning toward the building once again.

Harry walked up to the door, turned the knob, and walked through the doorway. Ron and Hermione entered the inn behind Harry. They planned to spend the night here and to leave for Harry's parent's home, which was right down the street, early in the morning. They knew they wouldn't be able to spend much time here, as they figured this would be one of the first, if not the first, place that the Order looked for them.

"I'll go pay for the room," Harry said walking over to the counter.

Ron and Hermione nodded and went to sit at one of the tables.

Earlier that month, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gotten permission from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to visit Fred and George's shop. Their real reason for visiting Diagon Alley had, however, been to visit Gringotts. Soon after arriving at Diagon Alley, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had snuck off to the bank so they could get some money, which they would need during their search for the Horcruxes. Harry had made quite a dent in the money he had in his vault. Ron, who had saved some of his money, hadn't needed to visit Gringotts, but had gone along with Harry and Hermione anyway. Hermione, who had gotten money from her parents' for school books and supplies, had exchanged it for wizard money, but had kept some of the British currency incase they needed it.

After paying for the room, Harry reached the table Ron and Hermione were sitting at in time to hear Hermione lecturing about the inn.

"I read that Ghost Inn was renamed after a fire that occurred here over one hundred years ago. The building was completely destroyed, and the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Stratton died in the fire. But, their business was so important to them, they returned as ghosts, and rebuilt the inn."

"That must be Mrs. Stratton then," Harry said, nodding toward the ghost who was floating behind the counter and from whom he had just rented a room.

"What do they do with the money they make? It's not like they need it," Ron said, looking at Mr. Stratton, who was floating by them.

"They donate some of it, but since they can't really touch anything, they had to hire people to keep the inn going. So, they use some of their money to pay the workers as well as to replace broken glasses and other such repairs."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent a few more minutes talking and were just about to head up to bed and get some sleep when a cloaked figure walked into the room.

Whoever it was, the cloak's hood was obscuring the person's face from view. The person walked slowly into the room and seemed to be scanning the room, looking for something or someone. As there were only a few people in the room, it would not be hard to spot someone.

The person's head stopped when it came upon Harry, Ron, and Hermione's table. Harry and Ron looked at each other and gripped their wands tightly in their hands as the cloaked figure came toward them.

The cloaked figure was soon standing in front of their table. Hands came up and slowly pulled the hood off.

With the cloak's hood now off of the person, Harry saw that the person was a girl with straight brown hair, who couldn't be much, if at all, older than himself.

"Hello, Hermione," the girl said in greeting.

"Hi, Annora," Hermione replied, sliding her chair closer to Ron to make room for the newcomer.

Once the girl was seated between Harry and Hermione, Ron voiced what both he and Harry had been thinking.

"What's going on? Who is she?" Ron said, looking distrustfully at the girl and suspiciously at Hermione.

"This is Annora Weiss," Hermione said. When she did not continue, Harry began to get impatient.

"But what is she doing here?"

"Annora is from Germany. I met her when I went on vacation there a few years ago. We write to each other a lot. She's here to help us," Hermione answered, looking from Harry to Ron.

"To help us? What have you told her about what we are doing? Hermione, we promised we wouldn't tell the Order or any of the Weasleys. I would think that that would mean that we wouldn't tell strangers either," Harry said, his voice raising.

"Shhh, you don't want everyone to hear us," Hermione began. But Harry interrupted her, his voice lower, but still angry.

"Why does it matter if everyone hears? You obviously didn't have a problem with telling people who weren't supposed to know."

"Annora is my friend. I trust her. I know you don't know her, but I do. Please, Harry, Ron, trust me."

For the first time since greeting Hermione, Annora spoke up. "My father was an Auror, a great Auror. He fought in the first war, but was killed by Death Eaters. I vowed that I would get vengeance. I never got to know my father because of You-Know-Who. I want to see him and his followers dead."

The four sat in silence after Annora's declaration.

After several minutes, Harry broke the silence. "Fine, but I don't know you, which means I don't trust you," he said, defiantly.

"Fair enough," Annora said, staring straight into Harry's eyes.

Sensing the tension and wanting to break it, Hermione spoke up. "We should get some sleep before we go to the house."

Soon, the others followed Hermione up the stairs to the the room they would be sharing.

* * *

"Okay," Hermione said, surveying the room they had rented. "There are only two beds but their big, so, Annora and I can share one and Harry and Ron can share the other." 

Hermione turned toward Harry and Ron. They were both making faces.

"Oh, grow up. The beds are big enough that you won't have to touch each other. Unless one of you _wants_ to sleep on the floor?" Hermione asked, looking from Harry to Ron, who were both looking down at the hard, wooden floor with disgust.

"Just don't take advantage of me, Harry," Ron joked.

Harry shoved Ron and rolled his eyes.

A few minutes later, the four were settled into their beds, and were all soon asleep.

* * *

Harry woke a few hours later to the sound of voices, two female voices to be exact. 

"Go to the loo now. I think Harry and Ron are waking up," Harry heard Hermione whisper.

Bed springs squeaked as the other girl rushed out of the room, the door closing loudly behind her.

When the door shut, Harry, whose eyes had been closed up to this point, rubbed the sleep out of them, and sat up.

Harry glanced beside him and saw that Ron, too, was sitting up.

"Now that that girl..."

"Annora," Hermione replied, looking up from the shoe she had been tying.

"Whatever, now that she left the room, I have a few questions," Harry continued.

Hermione gave a resigned sigh. "I knew you would. What are the questions?"

"For one thing, how exactly did you meet her?"

"I said that already. While my parents and I were on holiday, we visited Germany. We visited some magical sites, although I don't think my parents appreciated it as much as I did. Not that they're against the magical world because they're not. They just had a hard time seeing some of the magical sites and..." Hermione said, getting off subject.

"Hermione," Ron interrupted.

"Right. Well, while we were visiting, we stayed at a muggle inn nearby. Annora and her mother were on holiday as well. They were staying at the same hotel. I saw Annora carrying a wand, which, of course, meant she was a witch. We started talking and her mother and my parents hit it off, so, for the rest of the month, Annora and her mother joined my parents and me on tours. After that, Annora and I continued to write to each other."

"I don't ever remember you writing to anyone though," Ron said.

"Well, I did."

"Does she know about everything? The Horcruxes, the prophecy..." Harry asked, his voice drifting off.

"She doesn't know about any of it. I mean, she knows who you are. She knows pretty much what the general wizarding public knows." Hermione answered.

"How could you trust her enough to ask her to come with us? For all you know, she could be lying about her father and everything else," Harry said.

"But, I know she isn't lying..." Hermione began.

"But, _how_ do you know?" Ron asked.

"I just do. You both trust me right?" Hermione asked, looking from Harry to Ron. Both nodded their heads. "Then, _please_ trust me. I know we can trust Annora."

"I promised Dumbledore that I would not tell anyone but you and Ron about what Dumbledore told me. I didn't even tell McGonnagall when she asked me. I can't believe that you are expecting me to tell a total stranger," Harry said, his voice tight with disappointment and anger.

"I'm really sorry, Harry. I just know we can trust her. I never would have asked her to come if I didn't believe that she won't betray us," Hermione said, upset with the emotions Harry was directing toward her.

Before Harry or Ron could reply, the door creaked open, and the girl in question walked into the room. "Good morning," she said, brightly.

"Morning," Hermione answered, when Harry and Ron ignored Annora's greeting and started to climb out of the bed and put their shoes on.

"Let's go," Harry announced moments later. He stood and put on his cloak. "We don't have a lot of time. Godric's Hollow might be one of the first places that the Order looks for us when they find us missing."

The others nodded and they were soon on their way to the house.

* * *

Harry and the others made their way through the still deserted street. The only sound on the street was the crunching of gravel under their shoes. As it was only six o'clock in the morning, they weren't surprised that they saw no one on their way toward the town's graveyard. 

They finally reached the wrought iron gate surrounding the cemetery.

"Alohomora," Harry said, pointing his wand at the heavy padlock on the gate.

Harry pushed the gate open and slipped into the cemetery, Ron, Hermione, and Annora followed close behind.

Luckily, Godric's Hollow was a small village and so there were not many graves and it only took them a matter of minutes to find James and Lily's graves.

Hermione was glad to see that while the cemetery was small, it was well maintained. She didn't believe Harry would have been able to handle it if his parent's graves hadn't been well kept. It would have been like a sign of disrespect. This was going to be hard enough for him, she was glad it wasn't going to be any harder than necessary.

"Let's leave Harry alone. He needs to do this on his own," Ron said to Hermione and Annora, who had both begun to follow Harry toward the graves.

Hermione frowned but both she and Annora stood back with Ron as Harry continued on to the graves.

Ron, Hermione, and Annora watched as Harry approached the graves and knelt down in front of them. He drew his wand out and conjured up two bouquets of lilies.

Hermione watched this, tears swimming in her eyes. Harry had asked her a few weeks ago to teach him how to do that spell. She hadn't been sure at the time why he had wanted to learn the spell, but, of course, had agreed to teach it to him.

She smiled through the tears in her eyes as she remembered where Harry had put the bouquets of lilies he had conjured while practicing the spell. The first night after Harry began practicing that spell Ginny and Hermione had found the bouquets of lilies lying on Ginny's bed. The bouquets continued to end up on Ginny's bed every night, even after Harry had mastered the spell and no longer practiced it. Hermione and Ginny had been shocked to find them at first. Hermione, however, had been glad. She was happy to see that Harry, although he and Ginny had broken up, wasn't trying to pretend that he didn't still care about Ginny. She was also glad to see the happiness on Ginny's face every night that they entered the room to go to sleep. Hermione knew that although they were broken up, they would be together again some day. They meant too much to each other not to give their relationship another chance.

Hermione drew her attention back to the scene in front of her in time to see Harry bury his face in his hands and his shoulders began to shake violently. Hermione sucked in a shaky breath and rushed forward. She was stopped by Ron, who grabbed her hand and refused to let go.

Ron knew that Hermione meant well but he also realized that Harry needed this and that he would only get embarrassed if Hermione went over there right now.

Ron glanced over at Hermione and saw tears clinging to her eyelashes. He reached up with his other hand and brushed them away. Looking over Hermione's shoulder, he saw that other girl, Annora, standing about ten feet away from them with her back to them. He was surprised to see her shoulder's shaking, as if she was crying. Ron thought this was strange since she, unlike Hermione, didn't know Harry, but figured that she was probably just one of those really emotional girls who could cry at the drop of a hat.

Harry remained at the graves for another half hour. After he had stopped crying, it had seemed to Ron that he was just sitting in front of his parents graves, talking, about what, Ron couldn't hear because of the distance between them.

None of them rushed Harry as they knew that he really needed this time with his parents, even if it was just their graves.

When Harry did finish visiting his parents' graves, he, Ron, Hermione, and Annora headed toward his parent's house.

* * *

Hermione had known that the attack against Harry's parents had taken place at this house, but she, or any of the others for that matter, was not prepared for how the house looked. 

What once must have been a beautiful two-story cottage was now, nothing but ruins. Piles of wood and stone were scattered everywhere. Very little of the house was still intact. What once must have been a sofa was now nothing but shreds of green cloth and chunks of wood. Green vines and weeds and grown unchecked over the remaining furniture and walls.

At his first glimpse of the ruins, Harry had tensed up and was clenching his jaw.

"Harry," Hermione began, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Ron stood beside her and shook his head. Hermione nodded, but still looked as if she wanted to say something.

Harry continued to walk further into what was left of the house. His eyes drifted over the few things that seemed intact. Falling to his knees, Harry began shifting around a heap of rubble, wanting to see if anything was under it. He continued shoving things out of the way until something caught his eye. Near the bottom of the pile, the cover slightly torn, was, what looked to be, a book.

Pulling it out from under a chunk of wood, Harry saw that instead of a book, he had found a photo album. Opening it, he eyes filled with tears, and he quickly blinked them away, glancing around to make sure no one had witnessed his reaction. Harry was grateful to see that the others were giving him some distance and looking through some of the other stuff.

Turning back, Harry looked down at the photo album. The pages were filled with photos of his mum and dad. Some of the pictures must have been from their seventh year at Hogwarts, since they were both wearing their school uniforms. There were other pictures, too. Ones of Sirius, Lupin, and people Harry could only assume were his family. Family he would never meet.

Harry continued to study each picture meticulously, trying to absorb every picture, every detail. Too soon for his liking, he was drawn away from the pictures at the sound of someone calling his name.

"Come look at this, Harry." Hermione waved him over to where she, Ron, and Annora were standing.

Harry stood up, holding the album tightly in his hands.

"What is it?" he asked, making his way through the debris toward the others.

Hermione pointed to something lying on the ground. They had pushed aside the rubble that had been covering what Harry saw, as he drew closer to it, was some kind of box. Crouching down, Harry picked it up with one hand, his other hand still clutching the album.

"What ever it is, there's a lock on it," Annora said, pointing to the intricate lock which adorned the front of the elaborately-decorated box.

"We can try unlocking charms later," Harry said, tucking the photo album under his arm, so that he could hold the box with both hands. It wasn't very heavy, but the longer he held it, the heavier it felt.

They continued making their way through the ruins, but found very little else save for a stuffed animal of a black dog. Attached to the ear of the dog, was a card from Sirius. He, Sirius, had bought it for Harry not long after he was born. Harry knew it was silly, but when they began making their way back toward the inn, he was still holding the dog, along with the locked box and photo album, in his hands.

On their way back to the inn, Harry led the way, Annora and Hermione a couple feet behind him, and Ron right behind the girls. Harry was walking along, knowing that they needed to return to the Inn, get their stuff, and leave soon, before Order members arrived and discovered them.

They were just passing by the cemetery again when Harry heard Hermione scream. He turned in time to see Ron fall to the ground and Hermione fall to her knees beside him, crying his name over and over.

* * *

Mrs. Weasley woke at about seven o'clock in the morning. She got out of bed and went through her morning rituals. Eventually she made it downstairs and began cooking breakfast. When the bacon and eggs were just about ready, she headed upstairs to wake her husband and the children. She headed up to Ron's room first as he and Harry usually took the longest to wake up. 

She climbed the four flights of stairs to Ron's room and knocked on the door. Getting no reply, she opened the door. She made it through the doorway before she noticed that Ron and Harry were missing from their beds.

She gasped and looked at each of their beds again, hoping that she was just going blind and that they were still in their beds.

She knew they weren't there though. Trying to stay calm, she kept tried to reassure herself by reasoning that they must have already gotten up. However, even as she prayed that this was the case, somewhere inside herself she knew it wasn't true. They had never gotten up before she did. She didn't see why today would be any different.

Nonetheless, she rushed over to the window and looked out hoping to see them playing Quidditch outside as that was the only thing she could think they could be doing. When she failed to see them, any hope she had felt, however small it had been, disappeared.

She turned and began to run out of the room, when, out of the corner of her eye she saw something lying on Ron's bed.

She stopped in her tracks and turned toward the bed. She realized that lying on the bed was a letter. Written in Ron's untidy script across the front of the folded pages were the words _Mum and Dad_.

She sucked in a breath, unfolded the parchment, and began to read.

_Dear Mum and Dad, _

_By the time you find this letter, I am sure you will have realized that Harry and I are gone. If you don't know it yet, Hermione is with us. Since we were never allowed to join the Order, I don't know how much you know about what I am going to tell you. _

_While Dumbledore did tell Harry not to tell anyone, Harry, Hermione, and I realized that it would be safer if someone we trusted knows what Dumbledore told Harry. So, we decided to tell you. Last year, Dumbledore told Harry about Horcruxes, which, if you didn't know are things, possibly people, that You-Know-Who put pieces of his soul into. The Horcruxes made it so that You-Know-Who was able to survive when he killed Harry's parents and was hit by the Avada Kedavra curse. _

_There are six different Horcruxes, plus You-Know-Who himself, so seven in all. A few of them have been destroyed already, but, Dumbledore told Harry that the others need to be destroyed before he goes after You-Know-Who. This is because You-Know-Who will be weakest if all the other parts of his soul are gone._

_If you haven't realized it yet, Harry, Hermione, and I have left to find them. At the end of last year, after Dumbledore's funeral, Harry told Hermione and me that he wasn't going back to Hogwarts, even if it did reopen. He told us he was going to start looking for the Horcruxes. We had to go with him, Mum. We couldn't abandon him. Not now. _

_I can't lie and tell you that this won't be dangerous. But, please remember, that we have survived dangerous situations before. Remember all the things Harry, Hermione, and I have survived over the years? Both of you, and I am sure other people as well, see us as children, too young to deal with this – that's why you never let us in the Order. But Harry has to do this, and as Hermione and I are Harry's best mates, we have chosen to go as well._

_We will look after each other and hopefully we will all return soon._

_But, because this possibility can't be ignored, if something does happen I need you both to know some things. First, Hermione and I are dating. We have been together ever since Bill and Fleur's wedding. But, we have cared about each other for much longer than that. _

_I also need to tell you that I love Hermione and she loves me. If I don't survive the search for the Horcruxes, I need you to know that. I also need you to know that if I had survived, I have no doubt that Hermione and I would have gotten married. So, please, if she returns and I don't, take care of her. Treat her as if she was my wife, my widow. Also, while our relationship has not progressed this far yet, please know that if Hermione returns pregnant, the baby is mine. Your grandchild._

_This openness may seem out of character for me, and I would agree with you, but this last year, I grew up a lot. I hurt Hermione too much last year. I realized this last year that I can't and won't hide or ignore how I feel about her anymore. She is too important to me._

_I know that you will think of ways to find us. Harry, Hermione, and I realized this and have taken precautions to keep you from succeeding. Hermione found a spell that will keep owls from finding us, so do not waste time sending letters and trying to follow the owls to our location. _

_Also, we didn't take Hedwig, Pig, or Crookshanks with us, so please take care of them. _

_Hermione sent her parents a letter, although a less detailed one than this. She told them basically that she isn't returning to Hogwarts and she also told them to contact you. Maybe you can help them deal with this a little. Hermione hasn't told them much about what has happened to us the last few years so they have been left in the dark about a lot of things. Hermione is upset that she can't tell them more, please try to alleviate some of their fears and confusion. _

_I know I don't say this often, if ever, but I love you both. Please tell Ginny and the others as well. I hope that Harry, Hermione, and I return and I can tell you in person. _

_But, until then, I love you._

_Ron_

Mrs. Weasley's heart beating wildly in her chest, and tears were streaming down her face. She sank down onto the edge of the bed. With the last of her strength, she yelled for her husband. When her voice went hoarse from her screams, she broke down completely, sobs racking her body.


	3. Tiring search

_A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews, ale-weasley. I really appreciate it. If other readers could review so I can get more feedback..._

**Tiring search**

Harry dropped the stuff in his hands and ran back to where Hermione and Annora had sunk to their knees next to Ron.

"What happened, is he alright?" Harry's voice took on an almost hysterical tone.

Neither Hermione nor Annora answered, their attention focused totally on Ron.

Harry looked from Hermione to Ron, and was shocked by what he saw.

When Ron had fallen, Harry had thought that he had passed out. But, looking closely, Harry could see that Ron's shoulders were shaking. It looked like he was crying, but Harry couldn't be sure, as Ron's hands were covering his face.

"Ron," Hermione whispered, crawling closer to Ron and rubbing his back, "What's wrong?"

Looking at Hermione, Harry could see that she was a total loss about what was wrong with Ron. He could also see that Hermione, much as she always did when Ron was hurt, had a frightened expression on her face. He looked over at the other girl, Annora, and saw that she had a similar expression on her face. Harry had just looked down at Ron again when he heard Annora gasp and walk a few feet away from them, looking down at the ground.

Harry got up from his crouching position and walked over toward her. "What is it?"

Annora didn't say anything, and instead pointed.

"It's just a rock," Harry said, looking down at the ground where Annora was pointing.

"No it isn't. It's a pogrebin."

"A what?" Harry asked confused. It looked like a rock to him.

"A pogrebin is a magical creature that causes its victim to slip into a state of despair and, in turn, the victim will be overcome by this feeling and begin to cry, much as Ron is doing," Annora said, nudging the 'rock' with her foot.

Harry was surprised to see it move. Apparently it had been crouching, because when Annora nudged it, it sprang to its feet. The pogrebin had a hairy body, which up until now had been hidden by its smooth, large grey head.

"How do we help Ron then?" Harry asked, taking out his wand.

"You could hex it with a stupefying charm," Annora said, bring her leg back and kicking forward forcefully, sending the pogrebin flying through the air, to land just out of sight, "But kicking it works just as well."

Harry looked at her, somewhat impressed. However, he turned his attention back to Ron when he heard Hermione exclaim "Ron!" loudly and wrap her arms around him.

Ron seemed to be regaining himself, and looking a little embarrassed. "What happened?" he asked as he rubbed his hands across Hermione's back in a soothing manner as she cried happy and relieved tears on his shoulder.

"You were crying," Annora said bluntly. Ron's ears turned red. "Because a pogrebin had been following you for a while, probably since we left the inn, as it takes several hours to really have an effect on a person," she finished, taking pity on Ron's obvious embarrassment.

Hermione's tears began to subside and Ron got to his feet, grabbing Hermione by the elbows and lifting her up as well.

"Let's get back to the inn, if you're alright," Harry said, walking back to pick up the things he had dropped earlier.

The others made sounds of agreement and they soon arrived back at the inn.

"Okay, we should gather up our things and get going. Mrs. Weasley will have gotten up by now, so she's probably seen the note. We don't have much time if we are right in assuming the Order will look for us here first," Harry said, as he shoved his dirty clothing into his bag as shrinking it as Ron and Hermione did the same.

"I'm going to the loo before we leave, can you shrink my trunk Hermione?" Annora asked, as she walked out of the room.

Hermione nodded, more to herself than anyone else, as Annora had already left the room and couldn't see her.

"This is the next place we are going," Harry said, passing a picture of a different inn around so that they would know what it looked like, as they were going to apparate to it.

They passed the picture around until Harry had the picture once more in his possession. "Let's go," he said as he apparated with a crack.

Ron followed and reappeared a second later about two feet away from Harry.

Hermione and Annora appeared right next to each other seconds later, Annora grasping Hermione's arm.

"Whoa," Annora said, letting go of Hermione, "I almost fell."

"It's alright," Hermione said. "Let's get the room."

"I'll go pay for it," Harry replied, heading over toward the counter where a tall, gaunt man with grey hair and a bread was standing, staring at the newcomers.

* * *

Ron, Hermione, and Annora were sitting at a table, drinks in front of them, when Harry returned. 

"They didn't have butterbeer so we had to get something else," Ron said to Harry, motioning toward the fourth cup on the table.

Harry nodded and sat down at the empty seat next to Ron.

They sat in silence, each staring down at the contents of their cups.

The silence was only broken when Annora took a sip from her cup, grimaced, and exclaimed loudly.

"I am so sick of drinking this stuff, it tastes awful!"

"You've had it before?" Ron asked.

Annora looked up quickly at Ron and the others at the table. "Oh, yeah, it's a specialty were I live, my mum really likes it. I don't."

Ron nodded and looked over at Harry.

"So, how many rooms did you get?"

"Two this time, since we plan on being here for a while," Harry answered, pushing his cup away and looking up at Ron and the others.

"Maybe we should go upstairs and start trying to open the box," Hermione suggested several minutes later.

The others nodded in agreement and followed Harry to his and Ron's room.

When they entered the room, Ron and Hermione settled down on one of the beds, Annora on the chair at the desk, and Harry sat down on the other bed after closing and locking the door.

Harry picked up the box and set it down on the bed in front of him. Taking his wand out, he tried the basic 'Alohamora' charm.

"Some how I knew that wouldn't work," Harry said, still a little disappointed that it hadn't worked.

"Let me try," Hermione said, walking closer and pointing her wand at the box, "Distraho! Aperio! Effringo!" Hermione made a sound of frustration. "None of them are working."

"Maybe we have to do something else, maybe it isn't just closed by a locking charm," Annora suggested.

"Maybe," Harry said, looking down at the box. "Let me try to unlocking charms first."

Hermione showed Harry the wand movements for each of the charms.

"Distraho!" Harry exclaimed, before moving on to the next charm and changing the wand movement. "Effringo!" Letting out a frustrated sigh when nothing happened, Harry went on to the next one, "Aperio!"

"No," Hermione interrupted, "You're doing the wand movement wrong."

Hermione corrected Harry's wand movement and stood back as he tried again.

"Aperio!" Everyone sucked in breathes of shock and surprise when the box snapped open.

"How did you do that?" Hermione asked angrily, looking at Harry as if he had cheated.

"I did what you said to do!" Harry replied defensively.

"But how did you get it to work when I couldn't?"

Trying to stop the rapidly forming argument, Annora spoke up with a thought. "Maybe it's because Harry's parents are the ones who performed the charm. Spells can sometimes be linked with parentalis charms, or ancestor charms. They are especially popular on heirlooms, so that only family members can get to them."

"Of, course. Why didn't I think of that? I knew there had to be a reason why Harry could do it and I couldn't," Hermione said before clapping her hand over her mouth and blushing.

"Thanks, Hermione," Harry smirked before walking over to the now-open box.

They had only been looking through the stuff in the box for about an hour, when Harry came across a smaller box. This box, luckily, did not have a locking charm.

The others attention was drawn to him when Harry sucked in a breath.

"What is it, Harry?" Ron asked, looking up from the pictures in his hand.

"Look at this you guys," Harry said motioning them over. As they crowded around him, Harry showed them the piece of parchment he had found. "It looks like its notes, about…"

"Horcruxes," Hermionelooked at Harry inshock. She then reached out,taking the parchment out of Harry's hand and looking at it more closely.

"What does that mean?" Annora asked.

"This must have been your parents' job Harry, or at least their side job," Hermione said, giving Harry the parchment back to him and looking in the smaller box again. "There are more pages in here." Hermione drew out a stack of pages. "There must be at least twenty pages of notes here!"

Annora walked over to look at the pages with Hermione.

"It looks like there is a map here, too," Annora said after taking some of the papers from Hermione and shifting through them.

"What is it a map of?" Ron asked, as he and the others looked up from the notes they were reading.

"I'm not sure," Annora said, looking closely at the map and then passing it over to Hermione.

Hermione looked intently at the map and then shuffled through the notes in her hand, suddenly she gasped loudly.

"Oh, if this is what I think it is…" Hermione said, looking back at the map.

"What?" Harry asked.

Hermione didn't respond and instead looked back at the notes and then at the map once more.

"Hermione," Ron said impatiently.

"It looks like this is a map of Ravenclaw's ancestral home," Hermione answered looking up at the others, an expression of wonder on her face.

"Did you hear me?" Hermione asked, looking at the blank expressions on their faces.

"Yeah we heard you, Hermione, we just don't understand what the big deal is," Ron answered.

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh, "The big deal is that Ravenclaw's home has been lost for centuries. No one knows where it is located anymore; it was like it vanished into thin air."

"So, why would my parents have a map of it?" Harry asked, rubbing his head. He felt a headache coming on.

"From the notes, it looks like your parents knew about the Horcruxes and were looking for them," Hermione began, but was interrupted by Ron.

"We know that already."

"Yes, Ron, but, it looks like they were able to track one down. They believed that it was still in Ravenclaw's home."

"But, why would it be there?" Harry asked, "Wouldn't Voldemort have hidden it somewhere else like he did the locket?"

"Well, it could have been hidden in Ravenclaw's home, couldn't it? Like I said, no one knows where the house is located."

"Until now," Annora said, looking at the map.

Hermione nodded in agreement and looked up at Harry and Ron. "We need to go here first. It's the best lead we have right now. We should plan on heading out that way tomorrow. We won't be able to apparate since we don't have a clear impression of what the place looks like. We'll just have to follow the directions on the map, it may take longer but it will be safer."

The others agreed and they headed downstairs for some lunch. They spent the rest of the day relaxing until they would have to leave in the morning.

* * *

Although they had previously planned on staying at the inn longer, they had gotten information about the location of the first Horcrux sooner than they had thought they would. 

Once they had all woken up the next morning and gone downstairs to get breakfast, they ordered plenty of ham and pickle sandwiches and packed them for the trip.

They checked out of the Inn and headed out soon after. They knew where one of the landmarks on the map was and were able to use the Inn's fireplace, which was connected to the Floo network to get to it, but still estimated that it would take at least two days to get to the village near Ravenclaw's home.

* * *

Later that night after plodding through a swamp for ten hours, they came upon a clearing. 

"This is a good place to stop for the night," Harry said, dropping heavily to the ground, glad that he could rest his feet, at least for a while. "Tell me why we can't fly on brooms again?"

"Because we need to stay hidden. Even with a disillusionment charm we would be too vulnerable up in the sky. The trees make it harder for us to be followed," Hermione answered, sitting down next to Annora.

"Right," Harry replied, taking a drink of water from his water bottle.

Ron sat down next to Harry and pulled out his own water bottle. "We should rest for tonight and start again tomorrow morning."

The others agreed and soon they were putting up their tents magically. They had decided not to apparate back to an inn every night because it would be too much of a hassle.

* * *

"So do the notes say anything about what the Ravenclaw Horcrux is?" Harry asked Hermione as he led the others through a thicket of tall plants. 

"It didn't say," Hermione said in a disappointed tone. "I spent hours last night, after dinner, looking through that part of the notes trying to find some mention of what it might be, but I couldn't find anything."

"You and your reading," Ron smirked. "Did you sleep at all, Hermione?"

"Of course I did."

"Only because I made her go to sleep a little after midnight," Annora cut in.

Hermione blushed. "I was getting ready to go to sleep anyway."

"Yeah, right," Annora smirked.

* * *

Five more hours of trudging through the forest finally paid off when Harry stopped and motioned to a clearing ahead of them. 

"Is that the valley on the map?" Harry asked, turning to Hermione who had been carrying the map.

Looking down at the map, Hermione turned it sideways and back again. "It seems like it. We need to turn to the right here and follow alongside that river."

They all nodded and continued on.

After about another hour of walking, they were all tired and wishing they would find what they were looking for soon.

"What if the house is unplotted and we just can't see it?" Ron asked.

"I hope not," Hermione answered, wiping sweat off her forehead and looking down at the map again. "We should be close now."

"I am _so_ hungry," Ron commented taking out a sandwich from his bag and taking a large bite out of it.

Harry, Hermione, and Annora followed Ron's lead and dug sandwiches for themselves out of their own bags.

* * *

Soon after they had all finished their sandwiches, Hermione suggested that they take a break for a minute while she checked the map. 

Harry agreed and sank down on a nearby stump. "How close are we?"

"There should be a clearing just up ahead," Hermione said, sitting down on a large rock next to Ron and resting her head on his shoulder.

Ron wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Are you okay?" he whispered in her ear.

Hermione nodded, kissed Ron on the cheek, and got up from the rock. "The map makes it look like we should be there before dinner time. We can rest more once we get there, maybe."

The others nodded and got up as well.

* * *

"Are you sure you're feeling okay, Hermione?" Ron asked again, studying her face closely as Harry and Annora walked ahead of them. 

"Yeah, my legs hurt though. I'm not used to exercising like you guys are."

"I can carry you," Ron suggested, smiling at her.

Hermione returned his smile. "That's sweet Ron, but I don't think so."

"If you're sure…"

Hermione nodded.

"Well, can I hold your hand at least?"

Hermione smiled again and held out her hand. "Sure."

Ron clasped her hand with his and brought it up to his lips, kissing the inside of her wrist. "I miss being able to snog you," Ron pouted.

"Me too," Hermione admitted softly.

They were interrupted when Harry called their attention to the clearing they were coming upon.

"This must be it," Harry said, walking forward. "Is that the house?"

"It's really there?" Hermione exclaimed running forward to see the house for herself.

"Whoa," Ron said, coming to stand behind Hermione. "It's huge!"

Actually huge was an understatement. It was by far the biggest house any of them had ever seen or imagined. Although it wasn't quite as large as Hogwarts, it wasn't far from it.

The castle – as there was no other appropriate word for it – was made with grayish white stone. Four cylinder-shaped towers were situated at each corner and the arched windows had scenes made of stained glass in each of them.

The river ran along one side of the castle. On the other side was a garden filled with bushes of pink, red, and yellow roses. Situated in the middle of the garden was a fountain with an eagle statue, water pouring from the tips of the wings and tail.

As they looked at the grounds and castle in wonder, they failed to notice the elder woman approaching them.

"I've been waiting for you four to get here. I'm glad to see that you have finally arrived. Why don't we go up to the house and get out of the heat?"


	4. Researching is futile

_A/N: Thanks to ale-weasley & Forgotton Angel for reviewing._

**Researching is futile**

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Annora exchanged looks with each other.

"You know us?" Harry looked suspiciously at the elderly woman.

The woman looked harmless enough, but after everything Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been through, they had learned that things were not always as they seemed.

The woman had medium length graying-blonde hair that was parted in such a way that one side of her face was obscured from view. She was wearing gardening clothes and gloves and had smears of dirt on both. In her hands were a shovel and a packet of seeds.

"Of course I do, I've been watching your journey here," the woman answered, smiling kindly at each of them in turn. "Now, come along dears, I need a break."

Harry and the others followed cautiously behind the woman.

When they reached the front door the woman ushered them into the foyer and made a quick wand movement and mumbled some words that none of them heard before entering the house herself and closing the door behind her.

"Let me give you a quick tour, this place is much too large to give a full tour," she said, pulling her gloves off and setting them down on a nearby table. "You'll appreciate this Hermione…" she said, motioning toward a doorway on their right.

"Wait, how do you know her name?" Harry interrupted, clutching his wand and signaling for the others to do the same.

"I know all your names. I told you I've been watching your journey here, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and…Annora, was it?" her asked, looking to each of them in turn and coming to rest on Annora.

"You keep saying you've been watching us. How?" Harry spoke up as Annora looked relieved that Harry's question had taken the attention away from her.

"We'll get to that later. Let me show you all around first."

"I think it's only fair that if you know our names we should know yours," Harry said.

"Oh, yes, of course. My name is Deidre Dearborn."

"Are you a descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw?" Hermione asked. "This is her ancestral home after all."

"Yes, from my father's side of the family. I have lived in this house for over twenty years."

Her interest piqued, Hermione continued her questioning. "Are you the last remaining descendant or are there others?"

A sad expression passed over the part of Deidre's face they could see before she replied. "I'm the last."

"Now," she continued, effectively ending Hermione's questioning, "Let's start that tour."

She led them over toward the doorway and they followed her through the threshold. "As I was saying before, you will like this room Hermione."

Hermione gasped when she surveyed the room they were now standing it. It was a library that rivaled Hogwarts'. It was two stories high for goodness sake!

Ron watched Hermione's face fill with wonder and excitement and rolled his eyes. He would never understand her obsession with books.

After leaving the library (Ron had to grab Hermione's hand and pull her out of the room) Deidre took them across the hallway to the parlor.

There were overstuffed royal blue chairs and a sofa taking up a good portion of the room. In front of the seating places, against the wall, was a beautiful fireplace made of white stone with decorative carvings of eagles etched in it.

"This is one of the few rooms I actually spend time in," Deidre was explaining to them. "This house is so large I don't think I've ever seen every room."

"Do you live here all alone?" Hermione asked, her hand running along the eagle etchings on the fireplace.

"Yes, it's just me," Deidre said, sitting down in one of the chairs and motioning for the others to take seats as well.

Ron, Hermione, and Annora sat down on the sofa as Harry took the other chair.

"Other than the dining room and kitchen, I don't use any other rooms on this floor. I can show you those later, when we eat dinner. And I will show you to the rooms you will be staying in while you are here." Deidre smiled at their confused faces.

Harry and the others looked at each other, but none chose to comment about Deidre's assumption.

Hermione's further questioning was interrupted by the sound of Ron's stomach growling loudly.

At the sound everyone looked over at Ron and he ears turned bright red.

"How about we get some dinner, dears?" Deidre got up from her chair and motioned for the others to follow her to the kitchen.

White cabinets that extended from floor to ceiling ran across one side of the kitchen. Waist high cabinets with blue counters stretched along another wall, a huge window with a view of the nearby creek and gardens took up the third; with the entryway along the fourth wall.

Deidre walked over to the island in the middle of the kitchen and waved her wand around. Pots and pans flew around the kitchen before landing neatly on the island's surface.

"Would you like us to help?" Hermione asked.

"If you four wouldn't mind," Deidre answered as she waved her wand again and food glided over.

"This kitchen looks very modern, much more so than I would have thought considering how old this house is," Hermione commented, pushing her sleeves up and walking over to Deidre.

"It is. Before I lived here, this house had obviously relied on house elves to take care of the home and cook the meals. Since I never liked the idea of enslaving those poor things, I set them free but offered them all the option of staying here, but sadly they all refused. Mind you, I would have paid them if they did want to work, but they didn't like that idea either. So, I remodeled the kitchen so that it was convenient for me to use and cook in."

When Deidre mentioned house elves, Ron rolled his eyes, but Hermione seemed happy, and smiled brightly at Deidre.

Soon, with the help of magic to speed to cooking process along, a dinner of roasted pork glazed with sweet apple sauce, potatoes, peas, pumpkin juice, tea, and trifle was served.

Deidre sat down in the dining room at the head of the long rectangle cherry wood table. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Annora followed suit and pulled out the matching chairs and sat down at four of the remaining place settings.

Everything was delicious and although they did talk a little to each other, they were still on their guard around Deidre. About half-an-hour later, they pushed the plates away from them sighed contently. They hadn't realized how little the sandwiches they had been eating for two days had been able to satisfy their hunger.

"It's only a little after six right now, but if you four would like, I could show you to your rooms so you could sleep. You must be tired from all the walking you had to do to get here," Deidre said, glancing over at the grandfather clock and then to Hermione, who had hidden a yawn behind her hand.

They all agreed and followed Deidre back to the foyer and up the stairs to the second floor.

"There are four bedrooms in this hallway and three bathrooms. One is attached to my bedroom, which is at the end of the hall. You four will be staying in the other three rooms."

She led them down the hallway, stopping at the first door on the left. "This will be Ron and Hermione's room."

"What!" Hermione shrieked, blushing. "We aren't…I mean…We don't…"

"Oh! It is my mistake. When I was watching you, I thought that you were together" Deidre replied, clearly embarrassed about the mistake.

"We _are_ dating, but we don't…" Hermione trailed off turning redder by the second. But no matter how red she got, she could not compare to how red Ron had turned.

"That's fine. The two of you just reminded me of my husband and me. I just assumed you were further into your relationship than you are. That's fine. Hermione and Annora can share the room across the hall, Ron can have this room, and Harry can have the second room on the left. You don't mind sharing a room do you girls?"

Hermione and Annora both shook their heads. "Great. Your room is the first door on the right. There is a bathroom attached to that room. Harry and Ron you share a bathroom.

The four nodded their thanks to Deidre and headed for their assigned bedrooms.

Hermione and Annora opened the door to their bedroom and gasped at the room that was revealed to them.

The room was huge, much bigger than they had expected it to be. On one side of the room was a door, which Hermione and Annora assumed led to the bathroom. Against that same wall was a full-sized canopy bed with violet curtains tied to the posts. Across from that bed on the other side of the room was matching bed.

Against the wall between these walls and next to the doorway they were standing in was a large wardrobe.

Opposite this wall was a window seat; lining this seat were violet and white pillows.

"Is this room okay?" Deidre asked from her position at the doorway.

Hermione and Annora turned around. "This room is so beautiful. Thank you Mrs. Dearborn," Hermione said, answering for both of them.

"Oh, you're welcome dear. I am glad you like it. Have a nice night. Breakfast is at seven, but if you would prefer to sleep in you may. There is some cereal in the tall cupboard close to the sink if you are hungry when you wake up."

Hermione and Annora thanked Deidre again and wished her good night. Once she left the room, the two girls set about unpacking some of their clothing and putting it away in the wardrobe.

After Hermione and Annora finished this task, they went over to one of the door on the other side of the hall to see how the boys were doing.

At Hermione's knock, Ron opened the door to his room. The girls entered to find Harry sitting in one of the chairs in the room.

Ron's room was similar to Hermione and Annora's room, but unlike theirs, Ron's bedroom had only one bed and was decorated with more masculine furniture and colors.

A huge oak wardrobe took up a large portion of one side of the room. A door on the opposite wall led to the bathroom Ron and Harry shared. An oak-framed king-sized bed with blue sheets and a comforter was situated along one of the remaining walls. Blue curtains were tied back to the posts of the bed. Along the wall opposite the bed, in place of the window seat in Hermione and Annora's room was a desk, which matched the other furniture in the room.

Hermione looked over at Harry. "What does your room look like?"

"Just like this, but green instead of blue."

Hermione nodded and sat down next to Ron on his bed. "So what do you guys think of Mrs. Dearborn?"

"I think we need to make sure our wands are within easy reach in case something happens tonight," Harry said.

Hermione looked at Harry, surprised. "Are you that suspicious of her? I think Mrs. Dearborn seems nice."

"She may seem nice, but we have been fooled before," Harry said as Ron smirked.

"You just like her because she has a huge library. And, you like her because she thinks the same way you do about house elves. I saw how happy you were when she talked about setting them free and paying them."

"That is not the only reason I like her," Hermione said, stubbornly, crossing her arms in front of her and glaring at Ron.

Ron smirked again in response.

The four talked for a short while more. Soon, however, Harry and Annora, pleading fatigue, went to their separate rooms.

Hermione started to follow Annora to their room when she was stopped by Ron grabbing her hand.

"Do you have to go yet?" he asked pouting.

Hermione smiled. "I guess I don't _have_ to leave yet."

Ron returned the smile, and pulled Hermione to him.

* * *

Having had the chance to go to sleep so early, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Annora were able to get up in time to join Mrs. Dearborn for breakfast. 

Their breakfast consisted of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, pumpkin juice, and coffee.

As Ron slathered on a liberal amount of butter onto his piece of toast, he rubbed his leg against Hermione who was conveniently sitting next to him.

Hermione jumped at the first contact, but after the initial surprise, she smiled over at him, and in response, slid her own leg against his. Deciding to take it one step further, Hermione switched the hand her fork was in, which was awkward because she wasn't left-handed. But, she thought to herself, any awkwardness was well worth it when Hermione slid her hand from Ron's knee to his thigh.

At this, Ron almost choked on the mouthful of toast and eggs he had crammed into his mouth.

"Okay, Ron?" Harry asked, looking up from his plate and across the table at Ron.

"Fine," Ron mumbled around the food. When Harry shrugged and went back to eating his eggs, Ron looked over at Hermione.

"Two can play this game," Ron whispered, so that only Hermione could hear. Hermione bit back a smile.

Ron reached under the table and rested his hand against her knee. But, he didn't stop there.

Hermione had to bit her lip to keep from gasping as she felt Ron slid his hand up her thigh, much higher than where she had rested her hand on Ron's thigh. There was another difference too. While Ron was wearing trousers, Hermione was wearing shorts.

Ron slid his hand up and down Hermione's thigh but was stopped when Hermione pinched the skin on his hand really hard.

He jerked his hand away from her, caught by surprise. He looked over at Hermione to ask her what was wrong when he noticed Harry, Annora, and Mrs. Dearborn were looking at them.

And, he was very embarrassed to note, Mrs. Dearborn was smiling knowingly at them.

* * *

Their days at the Ravenclaw castle set into a routine. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Annora spent a lot of their time in the library trying to be as unsuspicious about their research on the Ravenclaw Horcrux as possible as not to get Mrs. Dearborn's attention. 

Unfortunately while they did spend much of their time researching, they hadn't really found much, and they were starting to get very frustrated.


	5. Memorable things

_A/N: Thanks to Lissy86 and Lazyllama101 for their reviews._

**Memorable things**

"Hello, dears," Mrs. Dearborn said later one evening, sitting in one of the blue chairs in her living room. She set down her book at smiled at the four teenagers walk into her room.

"Hello," Hermione answered as she and the others found seats on the sofa and the remaining chair.

"How is your research going?" Mrs. Dearborn asked.

"What do you mean?" Hermione questioned innocently as she and the others tried not to react to her question.

"It is very obvious by looking at me that I was not born yesterday. You have been living in this house with me for almost four months now. I am not completely oblivious to what you four have been up to. My only question is why you have not asked me anything. I am a descendent of Ravenclaw. I may be able to help."

The four teenagers shared looks with each other, silently asking if they could trust her with what they were doing. Finally, Harry nodded.

"We are looking for something that can help kill Voldemort," he said bluntly looking Mrs. Dearborn in the eyes.

Her reaction was one that none of them had expected. She smiled brightly. "That is wonderful. Are you looking for the Horcrux then?"

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Annora's jaws all dropped in shock.

"What do you know about Horcruxes?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"I know that you are trying to find them; that they are objects with pieces of Voldemort's soul in them. I don't know how many of them there are, but I know that you are looking for one of them here. And, that you are correct in assuming that there is a Horcrux here."

"There is? Where is it?" Harry asked.

"I can show it to you. But you should know some things first," Mrs. Dearborn said, settling back in her chair.

"I have mentioned already that I had been watching you on your way here. But I still haven't told you how I was able to do so. I will tell you now. In my family, the oldest living female descended from Rowena Ravenclaw is given possession of a mirror. But, this is no ordinary mirror. It once belonged to Rowena herself. She enchanted the mirror with ancient magic so that only her oldest female descendent would ever possess it. And, if by some chance it did fall into someone else's hands, the rightful owner would be able to call the mirror to her. I received the mirror about five months after my grandmother, my father's mother, died. With her death, I was now the oldest female descendent and so the mirror was mine. I was thirty-five years old at the time. When the mirror came to me, I knew something was wrong with it. Since it is a magical mirror and it recognized me as its new owner, it told me what had happened between the time my grandmother had died and I had summoned the mirror. It told me that Voldemort had gotten a hold of it and had connected a piece of his soul to the mirror. But, for selfish reasons I am sad to say, I did not try to destroy it. You see, I had a husband and children, all of whom I loved very much. I did not want to leave them. So, I stayed quiet about what I knew about the mirror; I did not even tell my husband, Caradoc, whom I had never kept a secret from before. I felt bad about lying to him, but…"

"Hold on a minute," Harry said, interrupting Mrs. Dearborn. "I remember that name from somewhere. Your husband's name, Caradoc Dearborn, I've heard it before."

"I am not surprised. He was killed by Death Eaters during a battle in the first war. People remember it well because his body was never found. His death was very hard for me to deal with, not just because he was my husband and I loved him, but because we had known each other since we were children. We had known each other for thirty-nine years when he died and his death made me feel like a large, very important part of myself was missing. You see, I did not just lose my husband that day, I lost my best friend."

"He was in the Order, wasn't he? That's where I remember hearing the name," Harry said, as Mrs. Dearborn wiped the tears that had been falling from her eyes away with a shaky hand.

"Yes, he joined soon after it formed."

"You said you would tell us how you were able to see us before we arrived?" Annora asked, turning to conversation back to a subject she had been wondering about.

"Right. As I said before the mirror is enchanted; more so than other wizarding mirrors. Rowena's mirror allows a person to seek out another person, simply by asking where they are at that moment. Of course, that is not how I was able to watch the four of you, at least not at first. You see, the mirror also is enchanted to know when someone is seeking it, which is a very good defense for it or the owner of the mirror. The mirror was able to tell that you were seeking it even though you did not know precisely what it was you were looking for. When it realized someone was looking for it, it told me. I had been watching your progress ever since. This is how I knew to drop the wards when you were approaching the house."

"Why did you not tell us this earlier? We have been doing research in your library for almost a month now," Ron asked. All that reading for nothing!

"I know. I debated telling you. But, you see I knew you want to destroy the mirror."

Hermione had been silent until now, just digesting everything Mrs. Dearborn had been telling them. "There is something I don't understand. Earlier you said that you did not want to destroy the mirror, for selfish reasons. Now you are saying that you didn't tell us about the mirror earlier because you knew we would want to destroy it. What is the problem with destroying it?"

"Ah. Now you are catching on. You see, the mirror is linked to the oldest female descendent. This is how I was able to summon it, and how it was able to find me. But, because we are linked, if the mirror is destroyed, I will be destroyed as well."

Quiet settled over everyone in the room, each of the teenagers silently letting the implications of this sink in.

"By destroy you mean that destroying the mirror would kill you?" Annora asked to make sure that her reasoning was correct.

Mrs. Dearborn nodded. "That is why I did not try to destroy it before. I was not ready to die."

"Did Voldemort know any of this, I mean about the mirror, before he connected a piece of his soul to it?" Harry asked, deciding not to think about the implications of destroying the mirror just yet. It was bad enough that he was prophesied to kill Voldemort; now,he had to kill this kind old woman as well. It was just too much to deal with right this second.

"I do not think Voldemort knew. I doubt he would have used the mirror if he had known. It would have been a very foolish thing to do. As I said before, the mirror is enchanted so that all the female descendent has to do is call for it, and it will come to her. And anyway, no one really knew about the mirror. It was not only a family heirloom, it was a family secret."

"So, you have never tried to destroy the mirror?" Hermione asked, attempting to reaffirm what she thought to be true. However, when Mrs. Dearborn answered, she was surprised to find that she was wrong.

"Oh, no. I have tried to destroy the mirror. When my husband died, our sons were still alive, but they too died during the first war. After this, I tried to destroy the mirror, but I did not succeed. I was not really sure how to do it, I just tried to hit them with various spells, but none seemed to have any effect. That is, until my last attempt at it. After common spells and hexes did not work, I researched ancient and rare spells and hexes. Eventually I found one that had more of an effect than any of the others I had previously tried. But, the mirror still remains intact; the spell did not work for me."

"What happened when you tried the spell?" Hermione questioned.

"After I used the spell on the mirror, it started to glow. But a few seconds later, a light shot out of the mirror and hit me in the face," with this, Mrs. Dearborn moved the hair that she always styled to cover one side of her face so that Harry and the others could get a clear view of her face.

The side normally obscured by her hair looked to Harry as if she had been burnt. The scar looked like third degree burns and that, much like Dumbledore's hand, was charred black.

"Do you know why the spell rebounded?" Hermione asked, politely turning attention away from the scar that Mrs. Dearborn was covering once more with hair.

"The only thing I can figure is that I was not strong enough to destroy the mirror. Or maybe, a part of me was still afraid to destroy it. It would be committing suicide after all."

The teenagers sat mulling over everything they had just been told, until they were interrupted by Mrs. Dearborn. "Would you like to see the mirror?"

When they nodded their response, Mrs. Dearborn got up from her chair and walked over to the fireplace. When she pulled on one of the decorative eagles, a scraping sound echoed through the room. Mrs. Dearborn, who was not at all surprised to hear the sound, walked away from the fireplace and led them over toward a painting that took up a large portion of one of the living room walls. She reached out and grabbed the wood framing of the painting and pulled it toward her. Behind the painting revealed a door way where a stone door had moved out the way. This must have been what the scrapping sound they had heard was.

Once through the door way, they walked along a short darkened hallway which led to another stone door. At this door, Mrs. Dearborn pounded her fist against the door three times on two separate stones.

When this door slid open, they entered a decent sized room. The room was bare, except for a mirror which was hanging on one of the walls.

Mrs. Dearborn followed by the four teenagers approached the mirror.

"Here it is. Although no one lives here but me, I try to keep it hidden."

Harry and the others approached the mirror looking at it carefully. If they hadn't gotten to know Mrs. Dearborn well over the last month and so knew that she wasn't lying, they would thing that the mirror was just a normal wizarding mirror. Although it was very decorative, its frame was made of gold and had eagles carved in it, there was nothing extremely spectacular about it. It wasn't even very big. The glass of the mirror itself wasn't much bigger than Harry's head.

"So, how does it work?" Harry asked, looking curiously at it.

"You just ask it where someone is. My friend Melba for example, lives in the nearby town. I will ask it to show her to us," Mrs. Dearborn said, turning away from Harry and the others and now looking directly at the mirror. "Please show us Melba Merriweather."

As soon as Mrs. Dearborn had finished her request, the glass of the mirror began to swirl, twisting and turning until at last it stopped, and, taking the place of their reflections in the glass was now the image of an older woman with curly, short gray hair and brightly colored robes. Harry and the others realized the mirror not only allowed a person to view what another person was doing, the mirror also made it possible to hear what the person was doing. This became obvious to them when they heard Melba Merriweather begin talking to plants she was watering: "Drink up my pretties. You need to grow bigger. I'll never win that contest if you don't grow. Franklin is not going to beat me this year…"

"Okay, enough of that," Mrs. Dearborn smiled. "Why don't we go back to the living room? You can look at the mirror more tomorrow. It is getting late."

The four teenagers agreed but, Harry especially, seemed reluctant to go. He kept looking at the mirror wistfully.

When Mrs. Dearborn and the others returned to the living room, they sat back down and Mrs. Dearborn began telling the girls about her husband. "He was a wonderful man, if a bit clueless in his younger years when it came to feelings…"

While the girls listened to Mrs. Dearborn recount her husband's humorous attempts at courting, Harry and Ron went to one corner of the room and talked quietly.

About an hour later, Harry and Ron said their goodnights and went up to Ron's room to talk some more. They were joined shortly by Hermione and Annora.

"At least the researching is over," Ron said, sighing in relief.

"But don't forget, we now have found out how to destroy it, so the researching isn't really over," Hermione said as she came to sit next to Ron, who groaned at the prospect of more reading. "We don't want Harry to get hurt like Mrs. Dearborn did."

"Hang on. What do you mean by 'Harry?' We are going to help him," Ron looked questioningly at Hermione.

"I know that, but I think -because of what the prophecy said -Harry is the one who has to destroy them. No one else is strong enough to do it."

"That's not true. Dumbledore destroyed one of them," Harry interrupted.

Hermione sighed. "That's true. Well, Dumbledore was the strongest wizard. It makes sense that he would be able to destroy it. But, maybe he still wasn't strong enough. Think about it, his hand was burned, probably when he destroyed the Horcrux. Hopefully when you try to destroy the mirror Horcrux you won't get blasted by the spell."

"I hope. I don't fancy having more scars. I would never be able to hide all of them."

"There's still one thing you're forgetting Hermione. If Harry destroys the mirror, Mrs. Dearborn will die," Annora said for her seat at the foot of Ron's bed.

"I know. I wish there was a way we could keep Mrs. Dearborn from getting hurt when the mirror is destroyed, but from what I remember reading about heirlooms connected to family members is that the 'connection' is permanent. It can't be dissolved."

They sit in silence for a few minutes thinking this over. It wasn't until Annora's eyes began to droop and Hermione yawned that they decided to call it a night and talk about it tomorrow.

Ron had just drifted off to sleep about an hour later when a soft click of his door signaled that someone had entered the room. Ron's eyes snapped open and he listened as feet shuffled across his floor, the shuffling sound interrupted frequently by a sniffling sound.

"Ron," the shadow whispered.

The sound of the person's voice told Ron immediately who it was.

"What's wrong Hermione?" he asked scooting over in bed to make room for her to lie down.

After she joined him under the covers Ron was concerned to notice that Hermione had been crying, which, he now realized, must have been what the sniffling sound had been.

"What is it? Are you okay?"

"I had a nightmare," Hermione answered, snuggling against Ron, but still trembling.

Ron wrapped his arms around her. "What was it about?"

Hermione didn't answer and instead began sobbing.

Ron's eyebrows knitted in concern and he rubbed his hands across Hermione's back and through her hair, trying to comfort her.

Soon, Hermione had stopped sobbing and at Ron's urging once more, told him what her dream had been about.

"When I was listening to Mrs. Dearborn talk about her husband earlier he reminded me of you a little bit. And then, when I went to bed, I dreamt that you died and that I was all alone," Hermione's voice hitched at the end of her sentence and a few more tears fell from her eyes.

One of Ron's hands came up and brushed the tears from her cheeks. "It's okay Hermione. It was just a dream."

"A nightmare you mean. I know it was, Ron, but remember last year? It almost happened," Hermione said, clinging to Ron so as not to let him move away from her.

Ron knew of nothing reassuring to say and so said nothing at all. He wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist as she lay on her side facing him. He leaned forward and kissed Hermione lightly on the lips.


	6. In a private chamber

_A/N: Thanks to KnifeThrowaStarr, lissy86, and lazyllama101 for their reviews of chapter five. _

_This chapter is rated M for a reason..._

**In a private chamber**

He was surprised when she kissed him back urgently. Soon they were kissing passionately and their hands wandered over each other.

Ron slid the hand that wasn't trapped under Hermione along her back, stopping right above her bum. They continued kissing and Ron moved his hand boldly down, squeezing when it came to rest on the soft flesh.

Hermione gasped against his lips and pushed on his chest.

"What?" Ron asked. He wondered why she might be uncomfortable considering he had touched her there, and more intimately, before.

"Nothing's wrong," Hermione whispered as she sat up in bed.

Ron was just about to ask her why she had stopped him then when she lifted her nightgown up and over her head leaving her in nothing but panties. Ron stared hungrily at the body that was now almost bare before him and leaned forward to latch onto one of her nipples.

Hermione sank back on to the mattress and moaned in pleasure, thrusting her hands into Ron's hair and holding his head in position at her breast.

As Ron's mouth and tongue continued sucking and licking her nipple, he brought one of his hands up and braced it against her back, forcing her breasts up. His other hand came up and pinched at her nipple, alternating between light and hard pinches.

Hermione's breathing hitched and she moaned rubbing her thighs together as pleasure shot to her core.

Ron groaned in response and moved his head to lavish attention on her other breast.

After spending an equal amount of time on the second breast, Ron slip his mouth down her stomach. His hands came to rest on the waistband of her panties, slipping his fingers under the elastic and then looking up at Hermione for permission. They had never gone this far before.

Hermione met his eyes and nodded her assent.

Ron moaned in response, pleasure building at his groin. As Ron slipped Hermione's panties down her legs and flung them across the room, his eyes came to rest on the flesh that was now, for the first time, bared to his gaze.

During the last Christmas break, while Ron was still, stupidly dating Lavender, Bill and Charlie, had given Ron some pointers about pleasuring a woman in this way. Although he had not done this with Lavender during their three months of dating, he was more than ready to do this with Hermione, who he had only been dating for only half as long.

Ron leaned down and kissed the flesh between Hermione's bellybutton and the brown curls a little further down. His mouth made a path lower until it came to the entrance between her thighs. He gently grabbed her thighs, and, when she didn't protest, pushed them apart making room for his head. From this position, her scent came rushing up to meet him and he breathed it in, his erection growing and pulsing as he not only smell, but _see_, her desire for him.

Ron slid one of his hands across the top of her thigh, running along her inner thigh, and then, sliding it along the curls and to her entrance. He then slid one of his fingers inside her, rubbing lightly. His brothers had told him about a little knot of flesh, which he began to seek out. They had told him that finding this flesh was important as a girl was unlikely to come if the guy didn't stimulate it.

After a second finger had joined the first between Hermione's folds, one of Ron's questing fingers brushed against something hard yet soft. When his finger brushed against this flesh, Hermione withered around on the bed, clenching the sheets between her fingers and arching her head back on the pillow.

Entranced by Hermione's reaction to what he was doing, Ron decided to go a step further. He withdrew his fingers from her, and just before Hermione had a chance to moan in protest, his tongue took the place of his fingers.

Experimentally, Ron slid his tongue between Hermione's folds, lapping at the hot liquid inside her. He then used his tongue to search again the flesh he had found earlier with his fingers, finding it more easily this time. He hesitantly flicked his tongue across it, happy when Hermione reacted to this the way she had with his fingers.

Trying to recall some of the other things his brothers had told him about this, Ron brought his fingers back to her entrance, pushing two of them inside. He began thrusting them in and out slowly as he circled her clitoris with his tongue.

Hermione's breathing became more shallow and quick, her breasts rising and falling quickly as she grasped Ron's head in one hand, fingers twisting in his hair, and continued grasping the sheets in her other hand.

A few thrusts of his fingers and laps of his tongue and Ron felt Hermione clench around his fingers as she shivered and moaned his name.

After Hermione's moaning died down, Ron kissed his way back up her body, coming to rest beside her on the bed.

Hermione, who was still breathing heavily, smiled up at him, although he was confused to note that her eyes seemed sad. "So, did Lavender teach you that?"

"No!" Ron said a little too loudly. Lowering his voice, he continued, "During Christmas holiday, when Bill and Charlie found out I had a girlfriend, they talked to me about it. But, I never did that with Lavender."

Hermione's eyes brightened and her smile got bigger. "Good." Hermione then reached out and began tugging at Ron's shirt. "You have too many clothes on."

Ron groaned in response and yanked his shirt over his head and they both watched for a second as it went flying across the room to land near Hermione's previously discarded nightgown.

They both turned away from the fallen clothing and met each other's gaze.

Their lips crashed together as Hermione slid her hands across Ron's back and he, in turn, slid both his hands under her arms, bracing himself on his forearms, his body coming to rest on top of her naked form.

Ron groaned as Hermione's soft breasts were pressed tightly against his chest. To make matters worse or better – at this point he still wasn't sure which – for him, his position on top of Hermione brought his erection in close contact with her warm, inviting center and he rubbed and pumped against her trying to alleviate pressure.

But, he was dismayed to realize, it wasn't really helping. Rubbing up against her like that only made him want to do more, and he wasn't sure how much more she wanted to do yet.

He didn't have to wait very long though because a few minutes later Hermione began tugging on his pants.

Ron broke contact with her lips and looked down into her eyes. "Are you sure?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes."

Slowly, afraid that he was wrong and that he had just imagined her answer, Ron pulled his pants down his legs, pushing them to the foot of the bed.

He nestled himself back between her thighs, brushing his lips softly against hers.

"Wait, Ron," Hermione said pushing him away a little to reach for his wand, which had been lying on the bedside table. "Contraception charm." She pointed his wand toward their bodies, whispered some words, and they watched as their bodies glowed for a moment and then returned to normal.

Hermione put down the wand and looked back up a Ron. He took this as a signal to continue and brought his hand down between their bodies, grasped himself and, after a few unsuccessful attempts, found her entrance and pushed in a little.

Hermione gasped in pain and clenched his biceps, her breath ragged in his ear.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked, trying really hard not to thrust deeper into her. He didn't want to hurt her worse than he already knew he had.

Hermione nodded and pushing her hands against his lower back, urged him on.

Ron did as she asked and pushed hard into her, breaking though the barrier. Once he was fully inside her, he tried to lie still – although it was difficult for him to do – waiting for her to adjust to him.

About a minute passed until Hermione brought her legs up off the bed and wrapped them around his waist.

He met her eyes and began thrusting. He only lasted for about a handful of thrusts before he emptied his seed in her, grunting and groaning her name into her ear as he came.

* * *

"No! Please don't, Harry. Please," Deidre cried from her position on the ground, looking up at Harry, who was pointing his wand at her, a determined look on his face. 

"You have to die, it's the only way," Harry said, his voice calm. Harry turned to Ron and Hermione, both of whom stood less than five feet away, watching the exchange between Harry and the kind old woman who had taken them in without a second thought.

He motioned them over with his head. "Get over here and help. You both promised you would come with me to destroy the Horcruxes and Voldemort, that means you're both going to have to kill."

Ron and Hermione walked slowly forward. Focusing more of his attention on them, and less on the woman sobbing on the floor, Harry noticed that Ron was tense and uneasy and Hermione had tears in her eyes.

This angered him. "Suck it up and get over here! We'll kill her together, on the count of three. One…two…three!"

"Avada Kedavra!" three voices rang out, drowning out the sound of the sobbing woman.

As the spell slammed into Mrs. Dearborn's chest, she screamed one last time, then, nothing.

Harry sat up in bed, gasping for breath. The nightmare still clear in his mind, Harry ran and hand through his unruly hair, and reached over near the bedside table, grabbing his glasses, and shoving them on his face.

Harry, realizing he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep anytime soon, pushed the covers away from him, swung his legs over the side of the bed, and got up.

He went into the adjoining restroom. Turning on the faucet, Harry cupped his hands under the running water and brought his cupped hands up to get a sip of water. He let the remaining water fall from his hands and back into the sink, then looked up, pausing for a moment to look at his reflection in the mirror.

Harry sighed, and started to walk back toward his bedroom when a thought suddenly jumped into his head.

_The mirror…_

Harry gasped and ran out of his bedroom, opening and shutting his bedroom door quietly so that he didn't wake the others. Once outside his room, Harry ran down the stairs and shot across the hall into the living room.

He made his way across the room and toward the fireplace, tugging on the same decorative eagle Mrs. Dearborn had pulled hours ago.

Hearing the familiar scraping sound, Harry turned toward the painting, grabbed its wood frame, and pulled.

Just as when Mrs. Dearborn had showed them hours ago, the painting gave way to a narrow doorway. Harry walked through it, making his way down the dark hallway and toward the other stone door.

Once in the small room that held the mirror, Harry walked purposely to it, and stopped in front of it, staring at its clear, smooth glass.

He took a deep breath and requested the mirror to seek someone out.

"Show me Ginny Weasley."

At first, Harry thought the mirror wasn't going to work for him, because nothing seemed to be happening.

Harry let out a sigh born from frustration and disappointment. Just as he turned to go, he saw the glass begin to swirl, just as it had done earlier for Mrs. Dearborn.

Harry jerked back to the mirror and started anxiously, waiting for a glimpse of Ginny.

_I really am pathetic_ Harry thought to himself as he watched the glass swirl. _It hasn't even been two months since I last saw Ginny and I already miss seeing her, talking to her. _Harry snorted in disgust. _Who was he kidding? From the day he, Ron, and Hermione had left to begin the search, he had missed her._

Further thoughts ended as the glass stopped swirling and gave Harry a clear picture of a girl sleeping in a bed.

The trouble was, the girl Harry was looking at wasn't Ginny. He narrowed his eyes, concentrating on her face. _She seems familiar, if I could just remember where I saw her before…_

Suddenly, Harry's eyes opened wide as he stared in shock at the girl.

Harry spun quickly on his heel and ran to the stone door, down the dark hall, out the door, into the living room, and up the stairs.

He had barely come to stop in front of one of the doors in the hallway before grabbing the handle, twisting violently.

Harry pushed the door open violently, the door crashing against the pink bedroom wall.


	7. Behold the proof

_A/N: Thanks to KnifeThrowaStarr, lissy86, and Phinehasfan for their reviews of the last chapter. I really appreciate all the encouragement and positve reviews I have received from all the people who have reviewed so far._

**Behold the proof**

Hermione rested her head against Ron's chest.

Ron glanced down at her. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Of course not, Ron. It was wonderful." Hermione smiled and ran her hand lightly across his chest.

"You didn't come. It couldn't have been _that_ wonderful."

"I know, but I did before when you…but anyway, it doesn't matter because girls almost never come the first time."

Ron nodded, slightly appeased.

They lay silently for some time and soon drifted off, wrapped in each others arms.

They were asleep when the muffled sound of a door hitting the wall across the hallway invaded their sanctuary.

* * *

The unsuspecting girl sleeping on one of the beds in the room awoke with a start as the door crashed against the wall. 

"What's going on?" Annora sat up in bed, watching the angry expression on Harry's face.

"I think you should be the one answering that question, _Ginny_," Harry spit out, his arms crossing in front of his chest as he glared at her.

"So you know. That's great. At least I don't have to drink that disgusting potion anymore. How did you find out?" Ginny asked dauntlessly, still in her "Annora" disguise.

"The mirror," Harry growled, uncrossing his arms and striding over to Ginny's bed.

Ginny nodded. "I should have thought of that."

Harry motioned Ginny to move her legs and he sat down near the foot of her bed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help find the Horcruxes."

"I don't want you here, Ginny. There was a reason I broke up with you. I can't protect you from Voldemort if you're running into danger with us."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Please, Harry. Voldemort will come after my family – and me – regardless of if we associated with you or not. My family and I are "blood traitors" _and_ most of us are in the Order. We are already targets."

Harry let out a frustrated sigh. "Ginny, I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I know that, Harry, but, either way, I am in danger. Us being together or not, me being _here_ or not, changes nothing." Ginny watched as Harry nodded slightly and smiled. Finally, he was starting to understand.

"We are going to take you back to the Burrow tomorrow morning."

Ginny bit back a scream of anger. "Oh, no, _we_ are _not_."

Further discussion was stopped as the Polyjuice potion Ginny had taken about an hour ago began to wear off, and soon, Ginny once again sported her red hair, pale skin, and freckles.

An idea hit Harry as the last of Annora's brown hair gave way to Ginny's red tresses.

"Who is 'Annora'?"

"Hermione's cousin. Hermione wrote her and asked for some of her hair. Annora is one of the only cousins Hermione has that knows she is a witch so Hermione could tell her it was for a potion. Annora agreed and Hermione and I made an obscene amount of the potion in my room for the month before we left for Godric's Hollow."

"It figures Hermione knew about this."

"Sure, Harry, I am not the only one who thinks you were being stupid when you dumped me."

"I didn't really dump you."

"Yes, you did," Ginny interrupted. "Regardless of if you think you had a good reason for us to break up or not, the fact is you did break up with me."

"Not because I _wanted_ to. I _had_ to, Ginny. I don't want anything to happen to you because of me."

Ginny sighed, and reached over, grasping one of Harry's hands in both of hers. "I know, Harry. But you need help. You need Ron and Hermione, and you need me. I can help."

"You can't even do magic outside of school. Be honest, what can you do to help?"

"Well, for one thing, I have helped with the research of finding Ravenclaw's house and trying to find the Horcrux. Also, I am the one who realized that it was a Pogrebin that was hurting Ron, and I knew how to get rid of it."

"Fine, but when we come up against Death Eaters – which I don't doubt we will at some point – what are you going to do? I can't concentrate on battling them if I have to protect you because you can't do magic."

"Well, at this point, I haven't used magic. I kicked the Pogrebin and Hermione and I have been doing side-along apparition when we had to apparate. Anyway, she and I thought about that before we decided on this plan and Hermione and I figured that when we do get in a situation like that, I'll use magic."

"But, you could get kicked out of school."

"I am not going back to school right now so it doesn't matter, and, by the time it does matter, maybe people won't care that I used magic outside of school and I will be able to get back in. By that point they will, hopefully, have realized that it was for a good reason."

* * *

Deidre stood in the shadows as Harry went tearing up the stairs towards the girls' room. She knew why he had gone to the mirror, who he was trying to see: Ginny, the girl who was disguising herself as Annora. 

Before they had arrived, the mirror had told her that Annora was not who she was pretending to be and was, in fact, a girl named Ginny Weasley.

Deidre had seen the interest in Harry's eyes when she had showed them the mirror, interest that had nothing to do with it being a Horcrux, and more to do with the power the mirror had. She had been clever enough to figure Ginny was in disguise for a reason and reasoned that Harry was that reason – in her Hogwarts' days she had been sorted into Ravenclaw after all, which made sense as she was one of the clever witch's descendants.

Deidre smiled into the dark room and hoped that everything worked out for Harry and Ginny and,for that matter, Ron and Hermione. She pulled her dressing gown around her and sighed. She missed her husband and children and hoped that she would soon be with them once more.

Deidre made her way to the fireplace and pulled the eagle lever. She walked toward the appearing door and made her way, once more, down the dark hallway and opened the door leading to the mirror.

Deidre stood in front of the mirror for a few minutes, just staring at it. She needed to tell the children. They were not the only ones looking for the mirror. She had seen Voldemort's attempts at finding it for several weeks now. But, he was not as clever as the children and was having a harder time of it. But, he was getting close she knew it was only a matter of time.

"Who is trying to seek you out?" Deidre finally whispered, looking into the cold glass of the mirror.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has found this house. He will find me here. He will be here soon," a quiet, but tinny voice echoed throughout the room.

Deidre gasped, ripped the mirror of the wall, and ran out of the room, clutching the mirror in her arms.

* * *

Harry and Ginny sat silently on the bed for a while, Ginny's hand still grasping Harry's. 

They were drawn away from their silent musings when the door to Ginny's room opened without warning.

Mrs. Dearborn, looking frazzled, out of breath, and clutching something in her arms stood in the doorway.

"Children, pack your things, you need to leave. Now!"

"What's going on?" Harry asked, letting go of Ginny's hand and standing up.

"Voldemort is coming. He found the house. He is looking for the mirror. He will be here soon."

Ginny gasped and got out of bed, scrambling around and throwing her clothing and Hermione's into their trunks.

Once she was finished, and had put her cloak on, Harry shrunk the trunks. Ginny shoved them both into her pocket and followed Harry into the hallway.

"I'll go pack my things and you go tell Ron and Hermione."

Ginny nodded and knocked quickly on Ron's door before getting impatient and opened the door herself.

The scene revealed to her on the other side of the door was one that made her want to run from the room or gouge her eyes out, but now was not the time to be traumatized by seeing her brother in bed with a girl.

"Ron, Hermione, get up! Voldemort found the mirror. He's coming for it right now. We have to get out of here."

"Ginny!" Ron gasped, surprised to see his sister here and talking to him.

"There is no time for that now, he is on his way."

Hermione shrieked and jumped from the bed, grabbing the top sheet as she went and wrapping it around her naked form.

"I'll just leave. Hurry up," Ginny ordered, walking out the door and shutting it behind her.

"Are they coming?" Harry asked buttoning his cloak and looking at Ron's closed door.

"Yeah, they're just getting dressed."

Harry's eyes widened, but didn't say anything. Now was not the time.

Mrs. Dearborn met them in the hallway after she had gone to her room to change her own clothing.

"Here, Harry, take the mirror." She thrust the mirror into his hands.

"What do I do with it?"

Ron and Hermione emerged from Ron's room as Mrs. Dearborn answered.

"Take it with you. Destroy it with one of the spells mentioned in this book. I can't remember for sure which one it was, but I am positive it was in this one. Accio _Ancient Hexes and Curses of the Ancients_!" Mrs. Dearborn plucked the book soaring at her seconds later and handed it to Ginny.

"We need to go then. Come on." Harry gestured for the others to come with him.

Mrs. Dearborn shook her head. "I am not coming. I will stay here and fend them off. I will keep the wards up to try to keep him from getting in here, so you children will need to escape through the woods. Once you have gotten far enough into the woods, where the wards have no effect, you can apparate to the village and use the Floo to get as far away from this place as you can."

"We can't leave you behind. You can come with us," Hermione said, looking at the kind, old woman who had taken them in.

"I am an old woman, Hermione. I have lived a long life, longer than I wanted after my husband's and children's deaths. I will stay behind because it will give you all a chance to get away." She then turned to Harry. "You will remember to look for the spell in that book, right. I am sorry I can't remember which one it was. I tried too many and am too old to remember for sure."

At Harry's nod, she smiled and quickly hugged each of them.

"Leave now, children. I am glad I could meet you all. You will be the saviors of the wizarding world. I know it." She looked at Ginny and smiled. "You as well. Do not make her return home, Harry. She needs to be here. She will be a big help to you and this journey."

With that Mrs. Dearborn pushed them toward the stairs and out into the yard. "Go, now."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny set off toward the woods at a jog. Their jog soon turned into a full out run when they glanced back and saw Voldemort approach Mrs. Dearborn, their wands aimed at each other.

They heard yells as spells shot through the air. Mrs. Dearborn was putting up quite a fight until Voldemort viciously hissed "Avada Kedavra" and a now familiar – to Harry at least – green light shot out from his wand and hit the kind old woman who had done so much for them in the chest.


	8. Do not give in to misfortune

_A/N: Thanks to lissy86, KnifeThrowaStarr, Avanell, and evil-mastermind666 for theirreviews of chapter seven. I really appreciate everyone's positve reviews. Keep them coming._

**Do not give in to misfortune**

**_Attack on Ravenclaw Manor_**

_Deidre Dearborn, descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the four founders of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was found dead late last night in the front yard of the, until now, long-lost ancestral home of Rowena Ravenclaw. Deidre Dearborn vanished from the public's eye after her husband, Caradoc Dearborn, and her two sons, Baeddan and Gareth Dearborn, were killed by You-Know-Who's followers._

_It is suspected that she was a victim of fowl play. Attacks have been occurring with increasing frequency the last few weeks, since the death of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, who, up until his death, had been the Headmaster of Hogwarts. You-Know-Who and/or his followers are believed to be involved in thismost recentattack._

_Deidre Dearborn was discovered at approximately 4:15 AM. An eye-witness and friend of Mrs. Dearborn has gone on record as seeing four young people flee the seen after a flash of green light, which could only have been the killing curse, lit up the area. It is believed that those seen fleeing the area were two young men and women. But, as the eye-witness said: "They were too far away to know for sure. But, two of them did have long hair. Not that it seems to matter nowadays. Boys these days with their ridiculous long hair. Why, in my day…"_

Lupin laid the _Daily Prophet_ down on the kitchen table in the Burrow and looked at the Arthur and Molly, who were sitting across from him.

"What do you think?" he asked, looking at the two worried parents.

"It could be them," Arthur said. "The description fits and the fact that it happened at Ravenclaw makes sense. Looking for the Horcruxes and all."

Lupin nodded. "If it is them, it's the first sighting since they left four months ago."

"Well, let's say that it is them. Do we have any idea of where they are now?" Molly asked. She, like the others, but more so because of her nature, weren't doing so well. Constant worry and fear for loved ones, no matter how capable you believed them to be, would have that effect.

"Well, we still visit Grimmauld Place frequently to see if there has been activity there. Tonks and Kingsley are constantly on the watch for possible sightings matching their description. Other than that…"

"Why can't we start looking for the Horcruxes ourselves?" Molly demanded. "If we do that, then we can find them."

"You know that won't work, Molly," Arthur said quietly. "They know more about the Horcruxes – and every thing else that's going on – than we do."

"I can't believe that Dumbledore did that! _We_ are the ones in the Order. They should never have been told_ more_ than the Order. They aren't old enough to deal with this." At the end of her short rant, Molly sank weakly, totally defeated, into her seat. Arthur reached behind her and rubbed her back soothingly.

Lupin sighed, partially understanding some of her frustration. He, like Molly, didn't understand why they hadn't been told about the Horcruxes. Unlike Molly though, Lupin did believe that they were old enough to deal with the stuff that was happening – no matter how unfair it was that they had to do so.

"Have you talked to Hermione's parents recently?" Lupin asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Yes, we visited them a week ago. We're going to go visit them later today. They get the Prophet now so they probably read the article. We just want to tell them our suspicions of the article being about Hermione and the others."

Lupin nodded. "It must be really hard for them. Their daughter being in such a dangerous position, and one that they don't understand."

"Trust me, Remus, you're children being in danger is never easy to accept, even when you understand the situation," Arthur said, thinking about his son and daughter, both of which were in danger. He sighed. To be honest, he was thinking about all of them, Harry and Hermione as well. After all the years they had joined the Weasley family for summer and winter holidays, Harry and Hermione had become part of their family and it bothered him – as well as his wife – to think about any of them in danger.

* * *

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny trudged heavily into the muggle hotel room they had rented with Hermione's money. They knew they wouldn't be able to stay there long. The person they rented the room from had already looked at them suspiciously because of their age. But, for now, they just wanted to sleep and recover from the horror that occurred only a few hours ago. 

"What are you doing here, Ginny?" Ron asked. He was the only one who hadn't heard the story yet or, in Hermione's case, been part of the scheme of hiding Ginny's true identity.

Ginny sat down one of the two beds in the room and yanked her shoes off. "I am here to help you three."

"You can't even do magic. How can you help? Mum and Dad are going to angry at you."

"Like they aren't going to be angry at you, too. And, just because I can't do magic, doesn't mean I can't help. Like I told Harry already, _I_ kicked the Pogrebin and _I_ found Ravenclaw's manor…"

Hermione let out an indignant yell. "Hey! You aren't the only one who found Ravenclaw's manor!"

Ginny rolled her eyes slightly, but smiled at Hermione. "Sorry."

Ron's eyes narrowed. "How did you pull off disguising yourself as that Annora girl that Hermione knew?"

Harry spoke up at this point, glaring at Hermione as he spoke. "Hermione helped her brew the Polyjuice Potion with the donation of Hermione's cousin's hair. They were in on it together."

Ron moved his gaze from Harry to Hermione, his eyes narrowing as well.

Hermione huffed. "Well, I do think that Ginny needs to be here. Looking for the Horcruxes won't be that dangerous…"

"You're right, Hermione. There was no danger a few hours ago when we were running away from Death Eaters. Mrs. Dearborn didn't die." Harry's sarcasm was so painfully evident; no one knew how to react other than cringe and the reminder of Mrs. Dearborn's death.

Hermione sucked in a shaky breath. She had really liked Mrs. Dearborn and doubted that she would ever forget her. "I know Harry. Even so, I do think that Ginny needs to be here. Anyway, you heard Mrs. Dearborn, Ginny is important."

"But,…"

"No. End of discussion. I am staying," Ginny spoke up, her tone set with finality. To further bring this point home, she pulled the blankets down and lay on the bed she had, until then, been sitting on.

Harry and Ron silently decided to let the matter drop for the moment and went about settling into bed.

Hermione walked over to the bed Ginny was occupying and lay down on the other half while Harry and Ron lay down on the remaining bed.

None of them slept well; the image of Mrs. Dearborn being killed kept flashing under their eyelids.

* * *

The next morning, the four got up and ordered some breakfast from the hotel. 

"Should we stay here or move on to somewhere else?" Ron asked, after swallowing a huge forkful of eggs.

Hermione put down her partially eaten piece of toast. "I think we should leave. We already drew enough attention to ourselves because of our age and how late it was when we checked in."

Ron nodded. He had been thinking the same thing.

Harry and Ginny agreed to this.

"Where should we go?" Ginny asked, looking over at Harry.

"Well, eventually we need to go to Grimmauld Place. I'm kind of nervous about going there though because the Order may still have meetings there."

Ron shook his head. "They probably moved Order meetings somewhere else, maybe the Burrow. They don't have a secret keeper for Grimmauld Place anymore since…Well, anyway, I doubt they have meetings there anymore."

Harry pushed the sausage around on his plate. "That's true," he mumbled.

After breakfast was finished, they checked out of the hotel.

* * *

They apparated easily to Grimmauld Place, they had been there multiple times. 

"Now, what exactly were we looking for here?" Ginny asked, letting go of Harry's arm. He had offered to do side-along apparition with her.

"Well," Harry said climbing the stairs, the other three following him. "When we were staying here the summer before last we had to clean the house and I remember seeing the locket that wouldn't open. I think it's a Horcrux."

"You mean there was one here?" Ginny asked. So close and they hadn't even known.

Harry nodded.

Hermione shook her head. "It can't be here anymore though. Remember, we saw Dumbledore's brother buying something off of Mundungus Fletcher."

"Exactly. That's why we are here. We need to see how much Fletcher got from the house. If there is anything left worth taking, we can keep a watch on the house. You know, wait from him to come back."

"But, if he took everything of value, what are we going to do?" Hermione said, following Harry into the drawing room, Ron and Ginny right behind them.

"Then, we visit Aberforth."

* * *

The four teenagers looked all through the house, but were disappointed and, especially in Harry's case, upset to find that Mundungus had all but cleaned the place out. 

"Well, so much for that idea," Ron sighed, pushing away the pile of junk he had been sifting through.

The others nodded, looking away from their own piles. They hadn't found anything either.

"We need to visit Aberforth. He works in Hogsmeade at Hog's Head. We have to be careful and not stay very long though. We don't know what he may do when he sees us."

At the other's worried glances, Harry elaborated. "He may be in contact with the Order. I don't know how loyal he is though. Remember, we also don't know how many people know that we are missing."

The other three nodded and were soon apparating, Ginny once again doing side-along apparition with Harry, to the Hog's Head.

* * *

Harry and the others sat to the back in the shadows of the dank pub. 

The usual suspicious people were sitting around the pub hunched over their drinks.

"He's up there, behind the counter," Harry whispered, leaning toward the other three to make sure his voice didn't carry. "I'll go up there and talk to him."

Harry started to get up from his seat when Hermione stopped him. "What are you going to say Harry?"

Harry sat back in his chair. "I'm going to ask him what he did with the stolen locket he bought off Mundungus."

"That's what I thought. You can't act accusing. He won't tell you anything if you threaten him. Or act threatening," Hermione added when Harry tried to say he wasn't going to threaten him.

"Hermione, let me just do this my way." Harry got up from the chair and stalked across the pub to the counter.

Hermione huffed.

Harry came back a few minutes later. He looked both smug and frustrated.

"I got the information…"

At this Hermione snorted angrily.

"But, someone must have found out about it or figured it was worth a lot of money because it was stolen a month ago."

Hermione smirked at this.

"Shut up, Hermione. Like you knew that was going to happen.

Hermione's shoulders slumped. "I know. I'm sorry, Harry. What are we going to do now? It could be anywhere."

"I know." Harry let out a frustrated sigh.

"Did he have any idea who might have taken it?" Ginny asked.

Harry shook his head.

A shabby-cloaked figure that had arrived shortly after them and had, up until this point, been sitting by the bar, came over to them, casting a shadow across their table.

"You looking for the locket with the snake on it?" a voice croaked under the hood.

"Why?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing as he tried to see the hooded person's face. It was impossible though. The person's face was in total shadow.

"I might know where it is."

The four of them shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"Where?" Harry asked cautiously.

"After it was stolen from the barkeep, it exchanged hands several times. The last person I know to have been in possession of it was a wizard by the name of Ian Daley. You can find him at The Crow's Nest, a pub in Scotland. He frequents the place daily. He should be there in another two hours. The fireplace is over there."

"Why are you helping us?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"I want this war to end just as much as any of you. I have faith in you all. Good luck." With that, the still-disguised figure left the pub with a resonating crack.


	9. We all wear disguises

_A/N: Thanks to lissy86, ale-weasley, Miss Finnegan, and evil-mastermind666 for their reviews._

_On another note, I had the first nine chapters pre-written. So, now that this chapter is posted, it might take a little longerto post new chapters. I am going to try very hard to post the next chapter soon, but, at this point, I am not sure how long it will take. Of course, this is subject to change. Watch me post the next chapter tomorrow : ). It could happen, I'm just not sure._

**We all wear disguises**

A loud crack sounded as Lupin appeared in the living room of the apartment he recently started sharing with Tonks.

Hearing the now-familiar crashing sound and cursing coming from the kitchen, Lupin followed the noises and, unsurprisingly, found Tonks.

"Oh, bloody…" the rest of the curse word faded away as Tonks looked up from the fallen pan and saw Lupin standing in the room, smiling at her.

"Wotcher, Remus," Tonks smiled back, stepping over the pan to greet him. Unfortunately, she misjudged the distance and stepped on the pan, but, fortunately, was caught by Lupin before she fell.

"Hi, Love."

Tonks smiled at the endearment, but noticed that Lupin looked upset.

Before she could ask what was wrong, she remembered where he had said he was going, and so, realized what was probably wrong. "They weren't at Grimmauld Place, were they?"

"No. If we just knew half the things Dumbledore had told Harry this last year…" Lupin's voice faded away in frustration.

And, Lupin wasn't the only one who was frustrated. Tonks, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Hagrid, McGonagall, and other Order members who cared about the four teenagers were frustrated. And, poor Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who up until Hermione's voluntary disappearance had thought that everything in their daughter's life was "fine," were beginning to understand, as they learnt more about what was really going on, that their daughter's life, along with everyone else's, was in danger.

In an attempt to find the teenager's whereabouts, many of the Order members had spent hours trying to piece together anything that would lead them to Harry and the others. So far, they had very little luck.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" a voice from the living room echoed through the house and reached Tonks and Lupin's ears.

Tonks followed Lupin out of the kitchen and glanced around the living room until she noticed movement in the fireplace.

"Wotcher, Arthur," Tonks said in greeting as she sat down in front of the fireplace, Lupin following right after her.

"Molly wanted to know if you two would like to come over for dinner. Between the three of us, she has been cooking a lot since the kids left. Trying to keep her mind off things, you know? She doesn't know what else to do…Anyway, we're having Lamb with green mint sauce, potatoes, cabbage and onions, and carrots. Trifle for dessert."

Tonks looked over at Lupin. When his stomach growled, she laughed and turned back to Arthur. "Sure, we'll be there."

"Great. Dinner will be ready in about half an hour."

Arthur faded away and Tonks and Lupin were alone in their apartment once more.

"Think we have time before we have to be at the Burrow?" Tonks looked over at Lupin questioningly.

"What?"

"You know," Tonks said, smirked.

"I'm not sure, Tonks, I mean…"

Any further protest on Lupin's part was stifled when Tonks leaned over, brushing her lips softly against his own. Growing bolder, Tonks pushed Lupin to the ground, climbing atop him.

* * *

Harry was the last to come out of the fireplace and into The Crow's Nest. He was dismayed, as were Ron, Hermione, and Ginny when they first stepped into the pub, that it was almost an exact replica of Hog's Head. It was dusty, dirty, and, very possibly, vermin infested. 

There still had about an hour before Ian Daley was supposed to arrive. When they went to get some drinks at the counter they asked the barkeep if Daley was there, just incase. He wasn't. After they got their drinks, they sat down at a vacant table to wait.

While drinking their Butterbeers, they decided to get some food, as they had not eaten dinner yet.

Hermione and Ginny went back up to the counter and ordered four meals of chicken with gravy, potatoes, and carrots.

* * *

While the girls where up at the counter, Harry spoke up. 

"She's your sister, Ron. You can tell her to go back home."

"Yeah, right, Harry. If you know Ginny at all, you know that if I tell her to go home, Ginny not only won't go, but she'll hex my bits off."

"Based off what Ginny saw at Mrs. Dearborn's, you aren't the only one who would be upset about your missing bits, would you?" Harry smirked, telling Ron that he knew what had gone on between him and Hermione.

Ron turned red, but was saved from further comment when Hermione and Ginny returned with the food.

* * *

While Hermione and Ginny stood talking by the counter, waiting to get the food, a man came into the pub and sat down at the counter in a nearby chair. 

"Do you think that's him?" Hermione whispered to Ginny while glancing over at the man.

"It might be. Let's ask the barkeep when he comes over here."

A few minutes later, Hermione and Ginny had their chance.

"Here's the food." The barkeep set the four plates in front of them, waiting for the money.

"Thank you." Hermione said as she handed over the money. As the barkeep turned to wait on another customer, Hermione stopped him. "Sir, could you tell me, is that Ian Daley?"

The barkeep looked over to the man to whom Hermione had gestured.

"Yeah. That's him. There aren't any problems are there? I don't want a fight in my pub."

Hermione reassured him that there would be no fighting, but silently thought that fighting was probably a regular occurrence in a pub like this one, what with the patron's it seemed to draw in.

Hermione and Ginny carried the plates to the table where Harry and Ron were talking.

Hermione slid into the seat next to Ron, handing him one of the plates. His face, which had been red, was returning to normal once more.

Ginny sat down across from Hermione, next to Harry, and handed him his plate.

"The man who came in a few minutes ago, the one sitting at the bar, is Ian," Ginny said as she began cutting into the chicken.

Harry and Ron looked up at Ian. Because of their earlier conversation, they had not seen anyone come in to the pub.

"When we finish eating, I'll go up and talk to him," Harry said, stabbing a carrot with his fork and bringing it up to his mouth.

"No, Harry. It's my turn. I'll talk to him," Hermione insisted.

"Why?" Ron asked, looking over, with narrowed eyes, at the Ian bloke. Hermione probably thought the git was attractive.

"Because I want to show Harry that my way of getting information from a person would work."

"Oh," Ron said.

"Why did you think I wanted to talk to him, Ron?" Hermione asked. She hadn't missed the glare he had sent Ian. _He probably thinks I think Ian is attractive._ She had to bite back a smile. He was so cute when he was jealous. _But_, she reminded herself, _I need to show him later that he doesn't have anything to be jealous or insecure about._ Hermione slid her hand other the table and rested it on Ron's thigh, trying to convey this message to him.

* * *

After they had finished eating, Hermione when up to the counter and sat near Ian, so that one seat was between them. She thought it would be too strange to sit right next to him when there were a lot of empty seats at the counter. 

After Hermione had thought for a second about what she was going to say, she turned toward Ian, but was surprised to see that her preparation had been unnecessary. After she had sat down, when she hadn't noticed, Ian had slid into the seat beside hers. And, he was smiling at her. Or, more correctly, he was leering.

* * *

Ron's hand clenched tightly around his drink, his ears and face quickly turning red. "What is that git doing?" he demanded angrily to Harry and Ginny who had been watching the drunken Ian hit on Hermione. 

The plan to wait until after they ate to talk to Ian had been a good thing and a bad thing. On the one side, Hermione had been hungry and so she had felt much better after she had put some food into her stomach. Unfortunately, waiting until after she had finished eating had given Ian the time to down several mugs of Firewhiskey.

And now, he was drunk, and hitting on Hermione. And, Ron was angry, and getting angrier by the second.

At one point, Ian had slid his hand along Hermione's upper arm, rubbing slowly. Hermione had winced at this, but, as drunk, or horny, as Ian was, he hadn't noticed. When Ron had noticed this, he had started to get up from his seat, but was stopped by Harry.

Later, when Ian leaned in and started whispering in Hermione's ear, Ron had jerked his arm away from Harry's grasp and gotten out of his seat, but before he was able to any further, Hermione had shot out of the seat, leaving a confused Ian behind, and had gone back to their table.

Hermione started to tell them what Ian had said, but was interrupted by Ron.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" he demanded, cupping her cheek and bringing her face up so their eye met.

"I'm fine, Ron. Why wouldn't I be?" Hermione asked, puzzled.

"That git was _flirting_ with you!" Ron almost yelled, his face turning red once more.

"Oh, that. It was nothing."

Ron sputtered. "But,…but,…"

"What, Ron?" Hermione questioned.

"He wanted to _sleep_ with you!"

Just like Ron, Hermione turned red in the face.

"What did he say, Hermione?" Ginny asked, trying to diffuse a situation that both she and Harry saw could quickly escalate into a blazing row.

Hermione shifted her gaze away from Ron and turned to Harry and Ginny, clearly relieved to end the 'conversation' she and Ron had been having.

"Ian said that…" Hermione began, but was interrupted by Ron.

"Oh, its Ian now is it?"

"Ron! Shut up," Ginny demanded, reaching over and slapping Ron on the arm.

"Anyway, as I was saying, Ian told me that he sold the locket. It's gone and he doesn't know where Halen Cain, the man who bought it, went."

Harry sighed. "All right. It's late. Let's rent a room and get some sleep."

Harry and Hermione went up to the counter to rent some rooms – the pub doubled as an inn, although not a very clean one.

When they returned to the table, Ron noticed that Harry was looking at Hermione strangely.

Before Ron had a chance to ask about it, Hermione was leading him by the hand up the stairs. Harry and Ginny followed a short distance behind.

Hermione stopped at one of the doors, twisting the knob and stepping inside. Pulling Ron in with her, she shut the door behind him.

"What about Harry and Ginny?" Ron asked, confused.

"They have their own room," Hermione asked, sliding her hands up his chest and wrapping them around his neck.

Her lips were inches from his when Ron registered what she had just said.

Ron jerked back, looking into her surprised face.

"What! What do you mean they have their own room?" Ron was out of Hermione's embrace and half way to the door, when something came soaring through the air, hitting Ron upside the head.

Ron bent down to pick up whatever it was that had hit him. He let out a strangled cry of surprise when he realized he was holding Hermione's shirt.

Ron jerked his head in Hermione's direction and found her sitting on the bed, looking at him expectantly.

"Ah, love. What are you doing to me?" Ron asked, sitting down on the bed beside her and trailing kisses up her shoulders, along her neck, until his lips met hers in a passionate kiss that led to them lying flat on the bed and clothing flying around the room in their desperation to feel skin on skin.

* * *

Ginny followed Harry into the room they would be sharing. 

He hadn't talked much since they had run away from the attack against Mrs. Dearborn. And, she was sure she knew why. Before she could question Harry, he spoke up.

"You have to go back to the Burrow, Ginny."

Ginny rolled her eyes. _Why did she have to be right?_

"I thought we talked about this already, Harry."

"But, you saw what happened to Mrs. Dearborn. That could be you next, Ginny," Harry's voice cracked and Ginny caught a glimpse of tears before he turned away from her.

Harry breathed deeply a few times, rubbed his eyes, and turned back to Ginny. "I can't let that happen to you. Why do you even want to stay here with me when you know that _death_ could be the consequence of doing so?"

Ginny blinked back her own tears and came up to Harry, wrapping her arms around his waist. She was happy to feel him hug her back. "Because, Harry whether you realize it or not, accept it or not, you're worth that risk. I love you."

At these words, Harry was unable to control the tears this time.

Ginny led Harry over to one of the beds, and pushed the covers down. She motioned for him to lie down in the bed and lay down beside him, wrapping her arms around him once more. When he calmed down some and Ginny wiped the tears from his face, they fell asleep, wrapped in each others arms.

* * *

"Ron?" Hermione asked, laying her head on his naked chest. 

"Hmmm?" Ron asked, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tighter against him.

"Why were you so angry today? About Ian I mean. You don't think I would cheat on you do you?"

Ron sighed deeply. He didn't want Hermione to think that, because that isn't what he thought at all. "No, I don't think that, Hermione. I just don't like when blokes look at you. You're mine."

Hermione smiled, rubbing her hand across his chest. "You don't have to worry about other guys looking at me, Ron. I don't even notice them. The only bloke I ever really see is you."

Ron tipped her chin up and brushed his lips softly against hers. Their kiss deepened, love and passion overtaking them again.

* * *

The cloaked figure that had talked to the four teenagers at the Hog's Head, reappeared at what had obviously once been a clean, organized room. Now, it was dark, books and papers now lay abandoned and scattered around. And, it was lonely. 

The figure threw off the cloak and flung it on the floor, uncaring of where it landed.

The person sat heavily down onto the couch. It had been hard to see the four of them. A hand came up, running through messy hair. _I hope I did the right thing. Please, let them be safe._


	10. Love is the essence of life

_A/N: Thanks to dopedclown, lazyllama101, lissy86, Avanell, and ale-weasley for their reviews. I really appreciate it._

**Love is the essence of life**

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny spent the next few days at the inn. They didn't really like the idea of staying at the inn for more than a couple days, afraid their presence would result in more deaths in the Death Eaters or Voldemort found out their whereabouts. This combined with the fear that the Order might find them made them anxious sitting in one place for too long.

But, staying at the inn for a while had some benefits. For one thing the separate bedrooms gave Ron and Hermione the opportunity and privacy to enjoy their new physical relationship.

More related to the search for the Horcruxes, however, the four teenagers had taken their free time to read James and Lily's notes more thoroughly.

"This is interesting," Ginny said, reading to the others something from one of the she had been reading. "_While looking for information about Hufflepuff, we came in contact with a dealer who said that he sold a cup to a woman named Celina. He did not know her last name, but knew that she was on vacation at the time of purchase. The purchase took place in Wales. As the cup seems to fit the description of the Hufflepuff cup we had suspected of being a Horcrux, we had attempted to find the woman who now possessed it. Fortunately, before we were forced to go into hiding, we were able to contact Celina. For safety's sake, we did not use last names. She says that she did not realize what she had when she bought it. She has joined our investigation and is looking into spells to destroy the object. We can only hope she will be successful."_

When she finished reading the note aloud, she handed the paper to Hermione, who quickly snatched the paper from her to read it for herself. After Hermione had finished reading it for herself, Ginny continued with something else that had made the passage in the notes interesting, to her at least. "I think I remember hearing the name Celina before. I think someone was talking about her to me, but I can't remember when it was, or who was talking to me."

"That's okay, Ginny," Harry smiled softly at her, a smile that she returned, "give it time, you'll probably remember it later."

Looking away for Ginny, he looked down at, but not really seeing as his eyes were glazed over in thought, the book of ancient hexes Mrs. Dearborn had given him right before she was killed. "So, if we can find this Celina person, we can find out what happened to the cup," Harry said, thinking aloud.

Ron sighed in frustration. "Yeah, but she could be anyone, anywhere. We wouldn't know the first place to look."

Harry nodded. "Well, I found out last year that Voldemort stole the Hufflepuff cup from Hepzibah Smith. She was a descendent of Hufflepuff."

"Well, we could find her," Hermione said, looking up from the paper she had been reading and re-reading.

Harry shook his head. "She's dead."

Hermione's eyes narrowed in concentration. After a few minutes, her eyes widened. "Did you say her last name was Smith?" Hermione demanded, with something that sounded like excitement in her voice.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Who do we know who is in Hufflepuff and who shares Hepzibah's last name?" Hermione asked, looking to the three other occupants in the room.

Ron groaned. "Zacharias Smith."

Ginny giggled a little, trying to find some humor at such a serious time in their lives. "Well, you must be happy, Ron. We get to go visit your friend."

Ron glared, his ears turning red. "Shut it. He is definitely _not_ my friend." Just remembering Smith's attitude toward Harry when the DA was being formed, not to mention, his ridiculously bias commentating at the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match, induced no agreeable feelings toward him.

"Well, regardless of our like or dislike of him," Hermione pointed out, "after we find the Slytherin Locket, or run out of ideas about where to look, we should go to Zacharias' house and speak to his parents. They might know something that could help us."

The others nodded their agreement and went back to their notes, or in Harry's case, book.

* * *

An hour later, Harry put down _Ancient Hexes and Curses of the Ancients_, sighing, and rubbing his eyes. 

"I could do with a break," he said.

Ron patted his stomach. "I could do with some _food_."

Ginny made a sound of agreement and, with a helping hand from Harry, got up from her position on the floor of the room they were sharing.

"Come on, Hermione," Ginny said, following Harry to the door.

Hermione nodded, but kept reading.

Ron rolled his eyes and walked across the room to where she sat the floor. He bent down and grabbed Hermione's upper arm, pulling her up.

"Wait, Ron, I was reading…"

"Later, Hermione. You need to eat."

Hermione glared up at him.

Harry and Ginny readied themselves for another row. But, they were surprised when Hermione's eyes softened and she conceded with a nod and slight smile.

"Too bad you didn't know that a good rogering would keep you from getting in trouble, huh, Ron?" Ginny smirked. "Would have kept you from a lot of the arguments you and Hermione had."

Harry choked on his laughter, turning his back from Hermione and Ron who seemed outraged at Ginny's crude, but admittedly funny, remark.

Hermione gasped in shock as Ron growled, "Shut it."

Ginny smiled, grabbed Harry's hand, pulling him out the door and down the stairs.

Hermione and Ron followed closely behind, blushing every time they meet each other's eyes.

* * *

They sat down in the pub, eating a simple lunch of fish and chips. 

They sat awkwardly for several minutes, before Ginny sighed, dropping her fish onto her plate.

"Alright, I'm sorry I said what I said. It probably wasn't a very nice thing to say."

Hermione looked up from her meal. "Its okay, Ginny. When you get 'rogered' as you called it, I reserve the right to make a joke about it to the two of you, just like you did to Ron and me."

Harry turned red in embarrassment when Hermione included the 'two of you' phrase.

Ginny's jaw dropped in surprise. While she did not think Hermione was a prude, she was still shocked by her remark.

But, Ron's expression took the cake. He had gone from an expression like Ginny's, his jaw almost dropping to the tabletop, to looking at Hermione with a proud smile.

A few short minutes of silence insured, but soon, Hermione and Ginny were talking and laughing, and Ron and Harry were discussing Quidditch, all of them having silently agreed that, unless it was urgent, they would send their breaks by not talking about Horcruxes or Voldemort or anything involving war.

* * *

After lunch, Harry and his friends went back upstairs, trying to find out what spell Mrs. Dearborn had suspected would work on the Horcruxes. 

They tried some of the eight hundred plus hexes that were listed in the book. They hadn't had much luck and before they knew it, they were eating a late dinner and then making their way up to bed.

Ron and Hermione slipped into their room, shutting the door firmly behind them. Harry and Ginny heard a locking charm being performed and then, moans belonging to both Ron and Hermione drifted, muffled, out into the hallway in which Harry and Ginny were standing.

"Hurry and unlock the door, Harry. We can't hear them in our room, thank Merlin."

Harry nodded and quickly did the "Alohomora" unlocking spell.

Ginny sighed and closed her eyes in relief as she shut the door behind her, effectively stifling the moans of her brother and his girlfriend.

Opening her eyes and looking around the room, Ginny sought out Harry, who had opened the _Ancient Hexes and Curses of the Ancients_ book once more and looking through it.

"The book will still be there tomorrow, Harry. We can look at that some more then. You should get some sleep."

Harry shut the book, setting it and the notes back into the box they had found at his parents house and locking it up tight. "Yeah, you're right."

"Of course I am," Ginny replied, making her way across the room.

She took off her shoes, and went over to her trunk, pulling out some night clothing, and going into the loo to change.

They had been sharing the same room for several days and had set up a routine. While Ginny was in the loo changing, Harry went to his trunk, pulled out night wear, and quickly changed into his night shirt and boxers.

Before Ginny left the loo, Harry was already in his bed, his glasses set beside him on the nightstand.

Ginny breathed deeply in and out to calm her nerves. She made her way to the bed, but, instead of getting into her own bed, as she had done every night except the first night they had stayed here, she pulled back the covers on Harry's bed and lay down beside him.

She felt Harry tense beside her. "What are you doing, Ginny?"

"Letting Hermione collect on her right to joke about us," Ginny whispered, waiting for Harry to realize what she meant.

Ginny lay silently, listening to Harry's breathing for a few moments, until suddenly his breath hitched and all the air left his lungs in a loud swoosh. _He finally figured out what I'm talking about_, Ginny thought.

"We can't, Ginny," Harry whispered, his voice as tense as his limbs had been since Ginny had lay down beside him.

"We can, too. And, don't pretend you don't want to," Ginny said stubbornly as she turned on her side to face Harry in the dark. The light from the window made him visible in the otherwise dark room. He was staring at her, fear raging with desire and love.

In the end, desire and, more importantly, love won out.

Harry pulled Ginny down on his chest, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss.

Clothing was peeled from each other's bodies, a contraception charm was performed, and innocence was lost. But, something important was gained. A strong love and commitment surrounded them as they lay, sated and happy in each other's arms.

"I love you, Ginny. I want to protect you from all of this. But, I know I can't really make you leave me, especially not now," Harry whispered into the red hair splayed across his chest.

Ginny smiled, "I love you, too, Harry."

* * *

Ron and Hermione shut their bedroom door behind them, locking it as they went. 

Ron began making his way over toward his trunk to change clothes, when, Hermione stepped in front of him, sliding her hands up his chest and around his neck.

Ron bent down, wrapping his arms around her waist. He moaned in surprise when Hermione did a little jump and wrapped her legs firmly around his waist, her pelvis coming into contact with his quickly-hardening erection.

Ron slid one of his arms under Hermione's arse, his other hand remaining on her waist and bracing her body firmly against his. While he was thinking about it, he cast the contraception charm quickly so he wouldn't have to try and remember it later.

Realizing that he wouldn't be able to do much in this position, he turned around and pushed her up against the wall next to the door to their room.

"Thank, Merlin, you're wearing a skirt today, Hermione," Ron said as he rubbed his trouser-covered manhood against the flimsy material of her panties that were the only thing covering her from his view.

"I know," Hermione answered, sliding one of her hands under Ron's shirt, feeling the muscles that had developed over the years.

Ron groaned in pleasure and excitement as Hermione's other hand made its way to his trousers, trying to unbuckle his belt. She wasn't having much luck though.

Ron, noticing this, pushed harder against her, hoping this would be enough to keep her against the wall, but he was wrong. Luckily, his brilliant Hermione slipped her arms around his neck, clinging to him.

Pausing a moment to make sure that Hermione was not in danger of slipping, Ron was soon unbuckling his belt and, while he was at it, unbuttoning and unzipping his trousers.

Once this was done, his trousers and boxers now riding low on his hips, Ron brought his arms back up to her waist and under her arse.

"Please, Ron," Hermione pleaded, her breath coming in short gasps.

Ron let go of Hermione's waist but kept his other arm braced under her arse.

One handed he was able to tug his trousers down to his thighs but, a dilemma arose. He couldn't get wiggle out of them because, if he did wiggle, he might drop Hermione.

"Just leave them, Ron," Hermione's voice pleading with him to continue.

Ron groaned, shoving his free hand between them and pushing her panties aside. He slipped one of his fingers inside her, testing her readiness. And, Merlin was she ready. She was dripping wet and his finger burned from the heat emanating from her core.

Hermione moaned in pleasure when his finger swirled around her clit, but whimpered in protest when he felt his finger leave her body.

Ron smiled a little at the whimper, proud that he had such an effect on her. But, taking pity on her, and truth be told, himself, he grasped himself, and attempted to bring it to Hermione's waiting entrance. He growled in frustration when he found that her panties had slipped back into place and were once again covering her from him.

Hermione was quick to catch on to why he had growled. She one of the arms she had wrapped around his neck, down his hard chest and stomach, to her stubborn panties. She pushed them aside, meeting Ron's eyes as she did so.

Ron growled in thank you, and, still grasping himself, brought his erection to her entrance.

He thrust deeply into her, both of them groaning and moaning in relief. Now inside her, Ron brought his, again, free arm up and braced it against the wall.

Ron thrust hard in and out of Hermione as she clawed at his upper back.

His thrusting continued for several minutes, until Hermione let out a scream that Ron quickly stifled with his hand as she voiced her pleasure, her orgasm washing over her in waves.

Once he was sure she wasn't going to scream again, Ron brought the hand that had been silencing her scream down to her hip. He slid his other hand under her arse up to grip her other hip. He tilted her hips and continued thrusting, harder now, trying to find his own release.

Hermione moaned softly at the new angle, but was too sated from her powerful orgasm to feel much physical pleasure from it.

Ron, however, still hadn't come and found the new position extremely pleasurable. If it was possible, she felt even tighter like this, and Ron enjoyed it immensely.

He lasted for another minute or two, before he groaned into Hermione's hair, his legs shaking as his remaining strength threatened to leave him.

Lucky for Hermione and himself, he was able to make it to the bed before all strength left him.

They collapsed on the bed, and with the little strength they possessed they wrapped their arms around each other and each whispered "I love you" before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Both couples woke up later than normal the next day, so late in fact that it was not until lunch time that either made their way downstairs. 

Ron and Hermione had just gotten downstairs and ordered some lunch when Harry and Ginny came downstairs, and, as Hermione was quick to notice, they were holding hands.

Harry escorted Ginny to the table and went up to order their lunch.

"Why did you two sleep in so late? When Hermione and I got up, we knocked on the door but since you never answered, we figured you were still asleep," Ron asked, once Harry brought the food back to the table and sat down beside Ginny.

Ginny bit her lip and feigned interest in her food. But, Hermione noted, Harry was blushing.

"Don't joke with us," Ginny mumbled, but smiling as she did so, and then looked up meaningfully at Hermione.

Hermione's eyes widened. "Did you use a contraception charm?" she asked bluntly, not thinking about what she was saying, and to whom she was saying it in front of, until it was too late.

Ron, who had been swallowing a mouthful of drink at the time, began choking. "What!" he was able to croak out between coughs.

"Hermione," Ginny ground out.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ginny," Hermione said. And, because she did look genuinely sorry about what she said, Ginny forgave her.

"It doesn't matter. Ron was going to find out soon enough anyway."

Ron looked from Ginny to Harry, who looked hesitantly up at Ron.

"_You_…and _you_?" Ron asked, pointing at Ginny and then Harry.

Ginny snorted. "Yes. We are dating, Ron."

"I could live with the two of you _dating_, but this…"

Harry interrupted, "Is no different than what you and Hermione are doing."

"But, she's my _sister_."

"Yeah, and Hermione's like my sister. You know I wouldn't take advantage of her, Ron."

Ron stared at Harry for a few minutes and, finally, to Harry's relief, nodded.

"Yeah, alright. Just make sure I never have to see it."

Hermione smiled proudly at Ron, glad that he hadn't lost his temper. She reached over and slipped her hand into his, squeezing gently.

Ron smiled at her and squeezed back.

* * *

"Okay, what about this one?" Ron asked, pointing to one of the spells in the book. "It says that it is used in the same way that love potions are used now. You said that Dumbledore told you that love will defeat Voldemort. Maybe love spells are needed to destroy the Horcruxes too." 

"Maybe," Harry said, looking at the description of the spell. "The hand movement looks really complicated." He read the rest of the description and sighed in disappointment. "It also says that I have to actually love the thing that I'm using the spell on. I _definitely_ don't love that mirror."

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny laughed in agreement.

* * *

"I was thinking, Harry," Ginny said, later that night as they lay cuddled together in bed. 

"You were?"

"Shut it, Potter." Ginny laughed, smacking Harry lightly, but quickly turning serious again. "Anyway, I was thinking about the spell that Ron found earlier today. You know, the one that requires you to 'love the mirror'."

Harry nodded. "What about it?"

"I think it might be the right spell."

Harry's face scrunched up in confusion. "How? I don't love the mirror. I really doubt Dumbledore loved the ring he destroyed. And, I know for a fact that I did not love the diary when I destroyed it."

"I know, but what if you don't really have to love the mirror, or any of the other items. What if it's enough to love what the destruction of them would mean."

At Harry's confused expression, Ginny continued.

"Okay, what did you feel when you destroyed the diary?"

"I knew that it was the only way to get rid of Riddle, and possibly to save you."

Ginny's voice took on an excited tone. "So, you loved what the destruction of the diary would mean?"

Harry shrugged. "Probably."

"And, I bet Dumbledore loved what the destruction of the ring would mean and so, he was able to destroy it."

Harry stared thoughtfully into space for a few minutes before speaking. "You might be right. Let's talk about it tomorrow with Ron and Hermione tomorrow."

* * *

"And, so, in a way, Harry really did love the diary, it was just the destruction of the diary that he really loved." Ginny said, the next morning while Ron and Hermione sat with her and Harry in their bedroom. 

"That would kind of make sense," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"I have a question, though," Ron said. "Why was Mrs. Dearborn not able to destroy the mirror. She probably really loved the mirror, it was an heirloom."

The four sat in silence for a few minutes, each pondering this complication.

Finally, Hermione spoke up. "Maybe she didn't really love the mirror though. I mean, she kept it hidden away, as if she didn't want to see it or think about it. You know, out of sight, out of mind. Also, the destruction of the mirror would have been a good thing, because it would help bring about Voldemort's downfall, but, it also would have meant her death. Maybe she couldn't destroy it because a part of her, understandably, wasn't ready to die."

Harry nodded. "It makes sense. So, if this is the spell, I need to learn the wand movement."

Ginny nodded in agreement. "And, when you try to destroy it, you need to be totally focused on how much love you have for its destruction."

"And," Hermione added, looking at the description of the spell, "it looks like you need to know the word for mirror. The spell needs to be personalized like the summoning and banishing spells do."

"Do you know the word for mirror, Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, but if we have to do this for the other Horcruxes as well, we should find a Latin dictionary because I don't know the word for cup, if the Hufflepuff Horcrux is really a cup. And, it looks like it needs to be in Latin, not English, so just saying cup isn't going to work."

Ron and the others nodded. "At least Latin Dictionaries aren't hard to find."

Harry, Hermione, and Ginny nodded in agreement and spent the rest of the morning, until lunch time, trying to master the extremely complicated movement.


	11. Let us turn to serious matters

_A/N: I have very sorry for the long delay. Hopefully I will be able to update faster next time._

_Too bad I have no one to thank for_ _reviewing... _: ( _Maybe I will have reviewers to thank when I post the next chapter..._

**Let us turn to serious matters**

"Damn it!" Harry groaned in frustration.

He had practiced for hours – along with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny – on how to perform the spell.

When they had seemed able to perform the correct wand movement without too much trouble, Harry had told them he would try it out alone first.

But, so far, it wasn't working.

"Maybe your not thinking about your love for what its destruction means…" Hermione suggested.

Harry glared at Hermione, but then sighed. "Probably. It's isn't easy to think that way."

Hermione nodded – Ron and Ginny sympathizing as well.

"Well we could help you try to perform the spell, maybe all of use together will be able to destroy it," Ginny suggested.

Harry shook his head. "I don't want what happened to Dumbledore or Mrs. Dearborn to happen to any of you. We already think that because I was 'chosen' by Voldemort then I am the one who has to do the spell – which means on my own."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Harry…"

"No. Please just give me some time. I know I can do this, I just have to think about it more."

"Fine," Ron said, standing up and pulling Hermione up as well. "Let's go get some food, I am starving."

Harry, Hermione, and Ginny followed Ron out of the room chuckling as they went.

* * *

They ate dinner, went out to a nearby shop to buy the Latin Dictionary – which they easily found – and then returned to their rooms. 

"Harry," Ginny whispered later as they lie in bed.

"Hmmm?"

"If the mirror was destroyed, we would be one step closer to Voldemort's defeat, one step closer to the end of the war. You – _everyone_ – could have a normal life then. Have you ever thought about what your life would be like after?"

"I know what you're trying to do, Ginny. But, to be honest, I think it will be almost impossible for me to 'love' the mirror or any of the other Horcruxes. And, to answer your last question, not really. There hasn't been much point to hope for more."

"Even now…You know, now that we're together?"

Harry looked over at her as she stared sadly, but he was relieved to see, not pityingly, at him. "You make me want to think of the future. I just don't let myself think about it very much."

"Maybe if you let yourself, being able to destroy the mirror and the other Horcruxes will be easier."

"Maybe."

Ginny kissed him lightly on the cheek, and soon drifted off to sleep.

Harry stayed up for at least another hour thinking of what Ginny had said.

* * *

The next morning, Ron and Harry went down to breakfast to find Hermione and Ginny sitting beside each other eating some toast. 

"Morning," Harry greeted as he and Ron slid into seats beside their respective girlfriends.

Ginny smiled in response.

"Ginny was telling me about her suggestion last night," Hermione said, turning her attention away from Ron to look at Harry.

Harry blushed. "Uh, yeah..?"

"I think you should try that."

"I'm trying Hermione."

Hermione nodded and turned back to Ron to tell him what Ginny had said the previous night while Ginny and Harry started their own conversation.

After breakfast, they went outside to get some fresh air – they all felt that they had spent far too much time inside.

After a few hours of wandering around the town, they returned to the inn.

* * *

For one week the four teenagers spent most of their time relaxing and having whatever fun they could have – much to Hermione's frustration, who felt anxious not doing anything important – so that Harry could enjoy himself a little – which they felt might help him. 

Aside from this, Ron, Hermione, but mainly Ginny, had been making comments about what they could do after the war was over.

One afternoon at the end of that week, Hermione, unable to hold it anymore, asked Harry if he could try the spell again.

Harry was a little uneasy, afraid that it might not work, but sucked in his breath and agreed.

"Amo speculum!" Harry commanded as he performed the tricky wand movement.

When nothing happened, Harry sighed in frustration. He had really hoped it would work, although it had only been a week, he had thought that he was getting better with his problem.

"That's okay, Harry," Ginny said encouragingly. "It's only been a week."

Ron nodded, slapping Harry on the back. "Yeah, mate. Give it time."

Harry nodded. Although they were acting encouraging, he could tell they were disappointed. And, truthfully, so was he. He had hoped that it would work as well.

"Maybe we should try to find the other Horcruxes now, work on trying to destroy them later," he said, looking to the others about their thoughts on that.

"That's a good idea, Harry. I would say we should probably continue looking for the locket, but we still don't know where Halen Cain might have gone. Or, for that matter, who he is."

"So, Zacharias Smith's parents, then?" Ginny asked, biting her lip to keep from smiling at Ron's look of disgust.

"Yeah, but how are we going to find him?" Ron asked.

"I have an answer to that," Hermione answered triumphantly.

"Why am I not surprised?" Ron asked smiling sweetly at her.

"Anyway, we can go over the owl post office tomorrow and send him an owl. But, since we have a spell on us that keeps owls from finding us, we can request that the returning owl be sent back to the owl post office."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Now all we have to do is decide what we are going to say when we owl him."

* * *

After the owl had been delivered, the four teenagers waited impatiently for a reply, returning to the owl post office everyday. They would have gone more often than that, but they knew that it would make them more suspicious than they already looked. 

Luckily, four days later, a reply came.

They now had the Floo address of the Smith's house.

* * *

They decided that they would Floo over there in the morning and that they would not give up their rooms at the Crow's Nest. After all, they would be returning to the inn after their 'visit' with Zacharias. 

One by one, Harry first, then Ginny, Hermione, and Ron, they threw the powder into the inn's fireplace, said the address, and stepped out into the Smith's immaculate kitchen.

Hermione was chagrined to see that a house elf came rushing into the kitchen to greet them.

"Hello, Smith guests, they have been expecting you. Toolio will take you to them. Follow Toolio, please."

The four teenagers looked at each other, shrugged, and followed behind the house elf, ready to grab and use their wands if the need to do so arose.

* * *

"So, you came here to ask us if we had a _cup_?" Mr. Smith asked haughtily, obviously wondering why they were wasting his and his wife's time. 

"Not just any cup, sir. It was a cup that used to belong to Hepzibah Smith. It was gold, had two handles, and had a picture of a beaver on it," Harry said, thinking back to what he remembered about the cup when he saw it in the pensieve.

"You seem to be very knowledgeable about the Hufflepuff cup, Harry Potter," Mrs. Smith replied snootily, staring unblinking into his eyes.

"Yes, he does. What did you want it for again?" Mr. Smith asked.

As they didn't want to tell more people than they had to about the Horcruxes – and definitely not people that they didn't know or trust, they had come up with a lie about what they wanted it for.

"Hogwarts is collecting items for the four founders to display in the school," Ginny answered, taking some of the attention away from Harry, who was grateful that she did so.

"With all due respect, but the cup would not be safe in the school. That is why we chose not to allow our son to return to Hogwarts. We would not want such valuable possessions to be harmed," Mrs. Smith replied coldly to Ginny.

"Hello, Mother, Father," Zacharias said, entering the room without realizing that the four teenagers were there.

Mr. Smith looked over toward the door. "Greet the guests Zacharias."

"Guests?" Zacharias looked across from his parents and saw Harry and the others for the first time.

"Hello, Potter, Weasleys, Granger."

They all nodded their greetings.

"What are you doing here?" slight confusion spread across his face, but was gone almost instantly as he returned to his previously stoic expression.

Mrs. Smith spoke up before anyone else had the chance. "They are looking for dear old Hepzibah's cup – the one that originally belonged to the honorable Helga Hufflepuff.

"Oh. We don't have it though." Zacharias tried not to glimpse at the severe gaze his mother shot his way after he relieved this information.

"You don't?" Harry asked. For what they had been saying he had presumed that they did have it. _We wasted all this time and we are no closer to finding it before we got here._

"As it happens, we do not." Mr. Smith answered, sending his own glare toward his son.

"We should go then. We have other places to visit."

Mrs. Smith nodded, clearly glad to see that they would be leaving. She picked up a nearby bell and rang it.

When the irritating sound ended, Toolio had appeared at her side. "Show them back to the fireplace," she said, not even bothering to look at Toolio when she addressed him.

"Yes, mistress." Toolio answered, gesturing them to follow him toward the kitchen.

Zacharias Smith followed closely behind them. "I'll go with them, Mother, Father."

"Toolio?" Hermione asked once they had entered the kitchen.

"Yes?"

"Do you know anything about the cup?"

Zacharias narrowed his eyes, looking at Hermione. "What makes you think he would know, if my parents don't?"

"But, Toolio does know, sir. Hokey, Hepzibah's servant was Toolio's grandmother. Hokey told Toolio's mother and then Toolio's mother told Toolio that Hepzibah did once possess the cup. But, Toolio is sorry to say that the cup was stolen by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named when Hepzibah was killed."

"Yeah, by your crazy grandmother," Zacharias replied angrily.

"If Master says so," Toolio replied as he threw some powder into the fireplace and began pushing Harry toward it.

"Wait, Toolio, I was told that Hokey was framed. That Voldemort" – the elf screeched and covered his ears as Zacharias grimaced – "was the one who really killed Hepzibah."

"It is not for Toolio to say."

"Please, Toolio," Hermione pleaded.

Toolio looked silently at Zacharias, as if waiting for permission to speak – which is what he was probably doing.

"Go ahead," Zacharias answered. Truthfully, he was interested in the answer himself. He had never heard this rumor before.

"It is true. Hokey said to Toolio's mother that You-Know-Who came to the manor the day Hepzibah was killed and that Hokey was not the murderer."

* * *

After his four schoolmates had left, Zacharias walked slowly to his room. 

The story the house elf had recounted was a compelling one.

He wondered what else the house-elf knew about his family's secrets.


	12. By the agreement of all

_A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews hsinava, xander-and-spike-rules, and evil-mastermind666. They are very appreciated._

_Please read and review…_

**By the agreement of all**

"Well, that was pointless," Ron said as he sat down heavily onto the chair in the Crow's Nest's dining area.

Hermione took a seat beside him. "Maybe not. At least we know that the cup isn't still at the Smith's."

"But we kind of already knew _that_. At least, based on what Harry said, we suspected that it wouldn't be there."

Hermione sighed. "I know. I was trying to stay positive."

"Oh," Ron answered, smiling at her and wrapping one arm behind the back of her seat.

She leaned against his arm, closing her eyes as if she were tired. Which, to be honest with herself, she was.

They had arrived to the Smith's this morning at nine o'clock. The Smith's had been so obtuse, snooty, and vague about answering their questions that they hadn't left until over two hours later, and it had been a _long_ two hours.

After they had ordered their lunch – as it was close to noon – they were just finishing when a shadow was cast over the table.

Harry and the others looked up and were surprised to see the robed figure who had told them Ian Daley's location which had ultimately brought them to the Crow's Nest.

"Did you talk to him?" the disguised figure croaked in the same voice Harry and the others remember from the last time they had come into contact with each other.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, not volunteering any information. They didn't even know who the person was and he was cautious to trust someone whose face they had never even seen.

The cloaked figure ignored the question and spoke again. "Did you find the locket?"

Harry shook his head but did not volunteer any more information.

"So, he hasn't come back here yet?"

Hermione spoke up. "He didn't have the locket any more. He sold it."

The figure's head turned away from Harry and – they assumed at least – that the person was now looking at Hermione, but were unable to know for sure as the hood of the cloak cast a shadow over the figures face.

"Sold it? To who?"

"Halen Cain."

"Hermione!" Harry hissed. "We don't even know who this person is," he said, gesturing at the figure. "For all we know he wants the locket for himself."

"We don't know that. Anyway he helped us before."

"How? He told us to come here to get the locket, but I don't see the locket do you?"

Hermione just shook her head and turned back toward the figure. He was gone.

"You see, Hermione. Now he is going to use that information to find it for himself. Good work." Harry got up angrily, stalking up the stairs to his room.

Ginny watched Harry go and looked guiltily at Hermione, who was wiping the couple tears out of her eyes that threatened to fall after Harry had yelled at her. Ron was rubbing her back soothingly.

"Sorry," Ginny said. "I'll go try talking to him."

Ginny turned and ran up the stairs.

"I shouldn't have said anything should I?" Hermione asked, looking uneasily at Ron.

Ron shrugged. "I don't know. I think Harry is quick not to trust anyone. But, I think that sometimes people can be trusted, especially now. We need help if we're going to find the Horcruxes and defeat Voldemort."

* * *

Zacharias Smith walked down toward the kitchens, slipping in quickly before his parents had a chance to see him. 

His parents had always told him that it was unacceptable for respectable people to visit the places in which the servants worked. A respectable person should not concern themselves with such trivial things, especially if they had servants to worry about it instead. And, normally he would agree with them – after all they raised him, their ideals had been instilled into him, or so he had thought.

About a week after the Gryffindors had visited his parents and they had learned from the house-elf – _Toolio_, he mentally corrected himself – that something he, Zacharias, had held to be true for so many years – that Hokey had killed his great-grandmother – was a _lie_.

This is why he was now visiting Toolio, and venturing into the kitchen to do so. He had needed to be sure that his parents would not listen in or interrupt.

Zacharias hoped that, by visiting Toolio, he would find out if the rumors that he had heard whispered about his family – rumors he used to get into physical fights about in an attempt to keep the honor of his family and ancestors from being destroyed – were in fact not rumors at all, but were actually _true_.

* * *

Harry woke with a start at a strange noise. He could tell instantly that the sound was not coming from the room but somewhere on the other side of the door. 

He left Ginny lying in the bed and only vaguely noticed that she looked different although he couldn't really explain how.

He reached the door and turned the knob, sticking his head out the door and looking out into the hallway.

As his eyes adjusted to the dark hall, he realized that it was not the hallway outside their room at the Crow's Nest. This hall was different.

Harry walked cautiously out into the hall, following the sound how to another door.

Without thinking, he reached out, twisted the door handle, and stepped into the room.

A small magical night light set on a nearby table, softly illuminating a portion of a wooden crib.

Harry stopped short, shock coursing through him. Slowly, he approached the crib – as the sound was now very clearly the sound of a baby crying – and looked down at it.

Red hair shown back at him and he gasped when the baby quieted down and bright green eyes stared into his own.

"Is he okay?" a voice asked sleepily from the doorway he had just crossed through.

Harry snapped around to find Ginny – one who was a few years older than the one he had kissed goodnight that night when he had gone to sleep.

"Um…uh…yeah." Harry stumbled, blinking confusingly at her.

"Um…um…uh…yeah…uh" Ginny teased coming up beside him to check on the baby as well. "James seems fine. Lets go back to bed, Harry."

"James…he's my son?"

Ginny stopped, and looked questioningly at him. "I don't think I like what you're implying, Potter."

"No! I didn't mean it like that…I..."

"Harry!"

Harry jerked awake and was greeted by Ginny, who face was hovering above him.

"Are you okay? You were mumbling."

"Yeah. I'm fine…good actually."

Ginny brows knit together and she shrugged before lying back down beside him. "If you say so."

"Ginny?"

"Yeah?"

"I can destroy the mirror now."

* * *

"So, you think you can destroy the mirror because you had a dream about Ginny?" Hermione asked the next morning, buttering the toast in front of her. 

Harry shook his head. "No. I know I can destroy it."

"But how could having a dream make you think…"

"_Know_," Harry stressed.

Hermione waved her hand. "Fine. How can the dream make you _know_ you can destroy it?"

"I've never had that type of dream before."

"You never had a dream about Ginny before?"

"Sure, but they're always about…" Harry trailed off as he had just become painfully aware that, from Ron's knowing stare, that Ginny's brother was sitting right there, hearing everything he said. _I shouldn't be blushing_, Harry thought to himself, _Ron already knows what Ginny and I do alone in our room at night. Dreaming about it isn't worse than doing it._

"Anyway," Ginny smiled at Harry's apparent discomfort about what he had just all but revealed to her brother. "Harry said that he has never had a dream about us in the future together."

"What was the dream?" Hermione asked, getting off topic, but curious to know the answer.

Ginny smiled happily. "He dreamed that we had a baby boy, named James."

"That's cute." Hermione smiled looking at Harry who had turned redder than she had ever seen him.

Ron smirked as he looked at Harry. For once he wasn't the one with the horrible tomato-red blush and he was quite enjoying it. But, he took pity on Harry anyway. "Let's go try to destroy it then."

* * *

Harry and the others walked about a mile out of town, to a nearby forest. 

As they were unsure what exactly would happen when Harry tried to destroy it, they wanted to be as far away from other people as possible.

"Okay, I'll lay the mirror down here. You guys stand back." Harry laid the mirror on the wet, cold ground – ithad rained the day before,leaving soggy leaves and mud behind.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny stood back, but close, behind Harry.

"Ready?" Harry asked the others. At their nods, he turned back and aimed his wand at the mirror. "Amo Speculum!"

The breath Ginny hadn't know she was holding swooshed out of her lungs when, a moment later, nothing still had not happened.

"Oh, Harry…"

Harry was grimacing as he turned to them. "No, its okay," Harry turned away from them, and began stooping over to pick the mirror back up off the ground. "I thought it would work," he mumbled.

"Did you concentrate on the dream you had?" Hermione asked, looking impatiently at Harry.

"What?"

Hermione sighed. "It probably isn't enough to know that you had the dream about your future. Try the spell again. This time focus on the dream while you do it. Think about what the dream being true would mean to you."

Harry swallowed and nodded, laying the mirror back down and standing back in front of it.

He took a few deep breathes, thinking hard about the dream. _He and Ginny were **married** in that dream_ – _no_, he corrected himself; _don't think about it as a dream_. Harry breathed deeply a few more times, his eyes slipping shut to better focus. _He and Ginny were married in the **future**. They had a baby – a son. And, his name was James. And, _he thought to himself, _James had been beautiful with his green eyes and red hair. If he was able to destroy the Horcruxes and Voldemort, that would his future – his and Ginny's. They would have James and more beautiful children just like him. All I need to do is destroy the mirror…destroy the mirror…_

"AMO SPECULUM!"

Harry's eyes shot open as the sound of glass breaking and splintering filled his ears. He ducked wrapping his cloak around his face and exposed skin so that no glass would embed its self, just as Ron, Hermione, and Ginny did the same.

When the shower of glass hit the dirt and so was no longer a threat to him, he moved his cloak away from his face and looked down at what was left. The remainder of the Horcrux Mirror once belonging to Ravenclaw herself now consisted of nothing but a few shards of glass and chunks of gold which had once formed the frame in which the glass was set.

"You did it Harry!" Ginny cried happily, coming up to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. For a moment he stood is shock, but he soon reciprocated the hug by wrapped his arms around Ginny's waist and pulling her more strongly against him.

"Good job, mate," Ron said, slapping him on the back.

"Yeah, great job, Harry."

* * *

On the way back from the forest – and after they had gathered the biggest remaining pieces of the mirror – Hermione suggested that they stop at the owl post office and write to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. 

"We haven't contacted them at all. They must be very worried, my parents too. We can be really vague about what we have done so far and tell them not to send a reply as it will seem to suspicious if someone intercepted it."

Harry agreed, partly because he was still on a high from destroying the mirror but mostly because he saw the hope in Ron, Hermione, and Ginny's eyes that they would be able to alleviate some of their respective parents' fears.


	13. The return of a memory

_A/N: Thanks for the reviews evil-mastermind666 and pettybureaucrat._

_You should be happy with this chapter pettybureaucrat._

_Also, for anyone who is interested, I edited chapter six – the 'first time' scene between Ron and Hermione. The first time I posted it I had edited it down to keep out the more racy stuff, but I looked around on and found more racy stuff than what I had written so I thought I would post the chapter I had originally written._

_Reviews encourage me to write faster…_

**The return of a memory**

Early morning - the day after Mr. and Mrs. Weasley received the letter from Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny - Jonathan and Robin Granger made the now familiar trip to the Weasley's house.

They had become good friends with the Arthur and Molly, although they all wished the friendship had formed over better circumstances.

Since getting into their car for the hour drive to the Burrow, Jonathan and Robin were lost in their own thoughts, thinking about what Arthur had told them the night before.

They had wanted to leave for the Burrow the night before when Arthur contacted them, but each knew that it would be better to wait for the next morning.

It of course would have been easier for the Weasleys to use magic to get to the Burrow – Robin couldn't remember what Hermione had told them it was called – as they would be able to almost instantly appear in the Granger's home. But, they had decided from the beginning that this would be dangerous - as would using the fireplace, as both these things could be detected and followed by magic.

So, the first time the Grangers had come to the Burrow – after their daughter had disappeared from the house in the middle of the night along with her three friends – they had set up meeting days. On these days, Jonathan and Robin would drive to the Burrow and get updates on what the Weasleys knew about their children's movement.

So far they hadn't known anything and, aside from the first visit when they were told some of the things that occurred during Hermione's previous and most recent school years – things their daughter had neglected to tell them herself – they had spent most of their time talking as pleasantly with Arthur and Molly as they could considering they were all worried about their missing children.

But, that had changed late last night. Arthur had appeared in their living room which, truthfully, shocked them as they were watching a film at the time and did not expect someone to suddenly appear in front of them, especially when that someone came stepping out the their fireplace.

They had of course heard about this method of travel from Hermione – one of the few things she told them apparently – but, it was still quite a shock.

After Arthur brushed the soot from his hair and clothing, he told Jonathan and Robin that his wife had received an owl from the children, and that he came straight from work to tell them.

So, while he didn't know everything in the letter – his wife hadn't told much incase the letter was intercepted – they could come over tomorrow and they could talk about it.

"We're here," Jonathan said breaking the silence as he turned into a long gravel driveway toward the Burrow.

Robin was brought out of her thoughts of the previous night. "I can see that," she snapped even though she hadn't even noticed until he said something.

Jonathan turned to her looking questioning. "I can't have said anything to make you angry at me. We haven't talked all the way here."

Robin narrowed her eyes at her husband, and then sighed, looking down at her lap. "I'm not angry at you. I'm just nervous about what the letter says. Molly couldn't tell Arthur much about it through owl last night and so he wasn't able to tell us anything. Anything could have happened to them."

"I don't know, Robin. The Weasleys have kept us informed as much as they can and I don't think that they would have made us wait if one of the children was in the hospital. They would have apparated straight over to tell us."

_Apparated, that was it_, Robin thought to herself. _She _smiled softly at her husband, he was right of course. _Arthur and Molly wouldn't have kept them in suspense if it was anything really bad._ "Okay. What are we waiting for then. Let's get inside."

* * *

"So," Jonathan said, sitting at the kitchen table with his wife, Arthur, Molly, Lupin, and Tonks. "They found and destroyed one of the things they were looking for?" 

"It looks that way," Lupin answered.

Lupin and Tonks sometimes joined the four parents when they would meet at the Burrow, but usually they choose not too, trying to give them time to deal with their angst over their children alone.

Jonathan guessed that they came this time because there was actually news this time that they needed to be privy to.

Robin spoke up. "What are the chances that the later was faked? You have all been talking about how we can't write things in letters to each other because it might be intercepted. What if someone just wants us to think they are doing well?"

"We thought of that. But, they used some keywords that we use whenever we talk about certain places – like Grimmauld Place for example. See," Tonks said, pointing to the letter.

"And, the chance of other people knowing about these keywords is…?"

Lupin spoke up at this point. "Almost impossible. We feel that the letter matches their individual handwriting. Molly found some old letters around Ron's room and Harry and Hermione's handwriting matched the parts they seemed to have written. The same for Ron and Ginny."

Robin nodded. "So, they must have really destroyed one of the things. How many do they have left again?"

"Not counting the one they just destroyed, they should have four left. They didn't tell us what they were exactly but Tonks and I have been gathering information about it and we think one of them has to be You-Know-Who."

"So they are definitely going to have to fight him?" Jonathan's heart clenched in fear for his beloved only daughter's safety.

Lupin nodded. "It's the only way for all this to end. Hopefully we can find their location before this happens and we will be able to help them when the time comes."

The Grangers stayed a few more hours and then left after lunch.

* * *

The morning after they sent the letter to the Weasleys, Harry woke up early, his eyes sliding almost instantly to Ginny who was snuggled against his chest. 

He smiled and slid his hands across her naked back, pulling her closer to him and brushing his lips across her forehead.

"Hmmm," Ginny sighed, turning her head up to meet his lips in a kiss.

Harry deepened the kiss, rolling her under him so that she was pressed down onto the mattress.

"Good morning," he said, breaking the kiss and then leaning down again to kiss and suck at her neck.

Ginny sighed in pleasure, tilting her head to the side so that he would have better access.

Harry groaned in response and slid one arm from her waist, up to cup her breast, pinch the nipple lightly, then harder.

Ginny gasped her legs immediately wrapping around Harry's hips which were pressing insistently against her own.

"Please," she moaned as Harry reached down, sliding his fingers inside her to see how ready she was – and she was _very_ ready for him, Harry noted smugly.

"Wait," Harry groaned, reaching out for his wand and performing the contraception charm.

He laid the wand back on the table and turned his attention back to her. He lifted his hips a little, grasping himself, and positioned his erection at her entrance.

He thrust hard, sliding easily into her and Ginny cried out in response, her hands grinding his hips against hers.

"Harry…" Ginny groaned out in frustration when a few seconds later he still hadn't started moving.

Harry responded by rolling over on to his back, taking her with him.

Ginny smiled, her frustration easing as she started bouncing up and down on him, her breasts bouncing along with the rest of her.

Harry grinned, watching her breasts rise and fall. Soon, he felt the tension building and knew he would not last much longer. Blindly, he reached out; gripping Ginny's hips in his hands, he began slamming her up and down on him. "Ginny," he growled, panting heavily.

Sensing he was close, Ginny reached down to stimulate herself. She had been close herself, and a few strokes later Ginny collapsed on Harry's chest, panting as he slammed her hips up and down one more time, screaming out when his own release hit him.

* * *

The cloaked figure sat in one of the tall-backed booths of the pub. 

He had spent the last for weeks since leaving the four at the inn trying to find out who Halen Cain was and were he might be now.

At first he hadn't had much luck, but when he was beginning to lose hope that he would find the man's identity and whereabouts, he had a breakthrough. This breakthrough led him to Kendrick's, a magical Irish family-owned pub which seconded as an inn.

About an hour went by, during which time the figure refused to order any drinks as he did not want to be sloshed when he talked to the man.

He uncomfortably ignored the advances of a woman sitting nearby. Luckily, the kind female barkeep seemed not to like those types of women in her bar because she told her to get out and then apologized to him. He smiled back and waved it off.

It didn't matter to him. He could have handled it himself, and anyway, he wasn't there for that reason. _Although, it **had** been a long time_…

The man shook his head, as if doing so would banish the thought from his mind. _There was only one woman for him, but she was lost to him forever._

His attention was turned away from his thoughts to the front door when the bell went off, signaling someone's entrance.

A man with long stringy brown hair stumbled into the pub. Apparently he was already sloshed, the cloaked man thought, rolling his eyes.

Though his connections he had been able to locate Halen Cain, the same drunk man who was now struggling to reach the pub's counter on his wobbly legs.

The cloaked man's dark eyes watched the drunken man order himself a drink, throwing money down on the counter, which the female barkeep took, sliding it wearily into her hands.

Obviously she had no problems accepting these customers, the cloaked man though sardonically, as his target stumbled across the room to a nearby chair.

On second thought, the cloaked man thought, when he noticed the picture of a baby behind the bar. Maybe she has a reason to accept customers like this one after all.

Turning back to the drunken man, the cloaked man got up from his seat, making his way over to him, and sliding into the seat across from him.

The drunken man's beady eyes squinted up at him, obviously hazy from the alcohol he had already consumed.

"Halen Cain? I believe you recently _acquired_ something I need…"

* * *

After their morning interlude, Harry and Ginny went down for a late breakfast. 

They were surprised to find that they had beaten Ron and Hermione, who walked in a few minutes after them, holding hands and smiling.

_Apparently he and Ginny weren't the only ones who celebrated the Horcruxes destruction this morning_, Harry thought to himself, smiling knowingly at Ron, who in turn took one look at Harry and Ginny's barely-eaten food, and narrowed his eyes at Harry.

"Morning," Hermione said cheerfully, sliding into the seat beside Ginny and began whispering to her.

"Ron, have a seat," Harry said cheekily, pointing his fork toward the last remaining seat.

Ron sat down beside Harry, managing to 'accidentally' step on Harry's foot – not enough to really hurt – but enough to feel uncomfortable for a minute or two.

Harry yanked his foot out from under Ron's and sent a mock glare at Ron.

"Oh, sorry, Harry. Didn't know your foot was there," Ron smirked.

Harry just shook his head. Regardless of how he felt about Ron knowing about what he – Harry – had been doing with his – Ron's – little sister less than an hour ago, he was too happy to care at the moment.

Hermione spoke up; her conversation with Ginny had apparently ended. "We accomplished a lot yesterday. But we can't get full of ourselves; we still have a lot to do."

Ron rolled his eyes but looked tenderly at her. "Great way to depress us Hermione." He smiled softly at her so that she didn't take the comment seriously.

Hermione blushed. "Well. We _do_ have a lot of work to do."

"That's true," Ginny said, breaking into their teasing. If she didn't they would continue until someone did. "We still need to find the locket and the cup. Neither of which he have any idea about."

Hermione responded, looking cautiously at Harry as she did so. "There is still the chance that the cloaked man will bring information back to us, like he did last time."

"Maybe," Harry said, feeling guilty when he saw the look of shock that crossed Hermione's face when he didn't blow up at her again as he had last time. "Hermione, about last time. I'm sorry I got angry. I…"

"Its okay, Harry." Hermione smiled softly. "I know I probably shouldn't have told him what I did."

"I don't know. He didn't seem to have misled us the first time. Maybe he will be able to help us. I just wish we knew who he was."

During the rest of lunch, they discussed that topic and spent the rest of their time thinking of plans to try and find the Hufflepuff cup.

* * *

Ginny slipped into bed that night, kissed Harry softly of the lips – he was already asleep – and pulled the covers around her. 

She was grateful that she had three people with her who were able to do magic. Without magic they all would have froze as, in the dead of winter, they would have nothing to keep them warm except for the thin blankets the inn had supplied for them.

Ginny's eyes were just slipping shut, when she gasped and turned toward Harry, shaking him awake.

"Harry! Wake up! I remember where I saw Celina's name before. I think I know where we can find the Hufflepuff cup!"

* * *

After waking Harry, Ginny got up and ran into Ron and Hermione's room. They had just gone off to bed and she figured that she – hopefully – wouldn't be interrupting anything. 

Merlin was she wrong.

Her brother and best female friend were already under the covers of their bed, their clothing flung around the room. And, she was embarrassed to hear that they were moaning. Worse yet – for her at least – the head board had begun slamming into the wall.

She willed the stupid blush away from her face and tried to sound indifferent to what was going on. "Oh, you two. Get over to Harry and my room. I remembered who Celina was."

Hermione and Ron stopped what they were doing to look in shock over at Ginny, who was already slipping out of the room and closing the door behind her.

* * *

"This better be good," an irritated-sounding Ron said when he and Hermione walked into the room currently occupied by Ginny and an amused Harry. Ginny had told him what she had interrupted, and now was his chance to get back at Ron's teasing earlier. 

"Probably not as 'good' as what you and Hermione were doing a few minutes ago, but…"

"Harry," Ron growled through clenched teeth. "Just tell us who Celina is."

Harry smirked. "Ginny knows more about it, let her tell you."

Ron turned immediately to Ginny waiting for her answer.

"Well, once Luna and I became friends, we started talking about stuff, you know? Anyway, one day, on the anniversary of her mother's death, she told me about her. It was really sad; Luna said she had died while testing experimental spells. The point I am trying to make is that Celina, was Luna's mother."

* * *

The next morning, the four teenagers were sitting a table downstairs in the pub, planning their visit to Luna's house. 

"She told me before we left Hogwarts to go home that she wasn't going back, her father was too afraid for her safety," Ginny recalled before taking a sip of the pumpkin juice in front of her.

Harry nodded. "She travels a lot with her father. Is that going to make it hard to contact her?"

"I don't think so. She might not have traveled anywhere this year, especially considering the safety issue. But, we could just go over there. She won't get upset that we didn't act 'proper' and send a letter first. Her father probably wouldn't mind either."

The three nodded their answer. They hadn't thought they would mind either.

"You know, Luna lives near us," Ron mentioned casually.

Harry's head snapped up. He had been thinking the same thing. He remembered Amos Diggory mentioning the 'Lovegoods' before they used the portkey to get to the Quidditch World Cup. "Do you want to see them? Your parents, I mean."

"If you think it's too dangerous…"

Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. Things have been pretty quiet actually. I thought we would be constantly chased by Death Eaters, you know? Mind you, I'm not upset that we aren't living in a cave so as to keep our presence as down key as possible."

Ron chuckled. "Me neither."

Hermione, who hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation, had instead noticed movement coming toward them, and signaled to the others as the now familiar cloaked man stopped in front of their table.

This time though, they noticed that he was limping.

"I found Halen Cain. I'm sure he has the locket. I tried, but I wasn't able to get it for you. I'm sorry. He frequents Kendrick's Pub and Inn in Ireland. Use the Floo network and say that name: 'Kendrick's Pub and Inn.' I have to go. Please be careful when you approach him."

The man was gone almost instantly, but not before the four teenagers noticed him grasp his upper arm tightly, gasping in pain as blood leaked from a tear in the cloth.


	14. Seek the truth

_A/N: Thanks to pettybureaucrat, evil-mastermind666, prg, akubhvu, and 'none' for their reviews._

_Sorry for the delay in posting. I go to school and the last few weeks have been really hectic – last minute assignments and finals. But, school is over now, and other than working, I have nothing else to do for the next several months._

**Seek the truth**

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny left the Crow's Nest that afternoon, and, using the fireplace, Flooed to Kendrick's Pub and Inn, where the cloaked man had told them they could find Halen Cain, who was suspected to have the locket.

While they still had misgivings in believing the cloaked man, who they knew next to nothing about, they thought that it would be better to follow any leads they could get since they themselves had no idea where to look.

Although they now had a lead on where the cup could be located, thanks to Ginny remembering where she had heard the name Celina before, they decided to wait until after the holiday vacation before visiting Luna and her father.

_It was strange and a little sad really_, Harry thought to himself and he set his trunk of clothes on to the floor of his and Ginny's new bedroom at Kendrick's, _that none of them had seemed to remember that Christmas was fast approaching._

Harry hadn't noticed until the long-black haired woman who owned the pub wished them a 'Happy Holidays' when they came up to her to ask for rooms.

By the surprised look on his friends' faces, Harry hadn't been the only one who hadn't noticed that Christmas was less than two weeks away.

What he had noticed though was that Ron and Ginny seemed hopeful about visiting their parents. He was too if truth be told.

The only problem he saw with doing so was how Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would react. Part of him feared that they would be really angry with him. After all, if he wasn't there Ron and Ginny wouldn't be in danger right now.

_But, no_, he thought to himself. They would still be in danger whether they knew him or not. They would, however, be in less danger if they didn't know him and no matter what they told him on the contrary, he would always believe that to be true.

He also saw leaving the Burrow after they visited to be a problem. After seeing Mrs. Weasley when he was angry or upset about something, he could only imagine all the things she would do to them to make sure they couldn't leave after they got there.

All he knew was that they would have to come up with an escape plan before they left.

* * *

_It's going to be a depressing holiday vacation this_ year, Arthur thought to himself as he sat at the Burrow's kitchen table about a week before Christmas.

Bill and Fleur were in France visiting her family but planned to arrive to the Burrow two days before Christmas and stay the rest of the week.

Charlie would be arriving the day after Bill, but was returning to Romania the day after Christmas.

Percy, of course, still wasn't talking to them. Percy seemed to be avoiding his father at work as well because Arthur hadn't seen him there either.

Fred and George came over often but, as the Holiday rush was keeping them very busy at their shop, they would not be arriving until Christmas Eve.

And, Ron and Ginny, well, Arthur sighed, he didn't know where they were.

Remus and Tonks had eventually found the location of the owl post office they had used, but, by the time they had gotten there, the four teenagers had left the only inn in that small town.

When he, Molly, Remus, and Tonks, had arrived at the inn, they had held out hope that the children would still be there. But, the children had been one step ahead of them and had left the day before.

Worst yet, when they had asked the rough looking barkeep where they had gone, he said that he didn't have any idea. All he cared about was that they paid for the two rooms they had rented, which they had done right before they left.

When Molly heard this bit of information she had turned red in the face. It wasn't until they were leaving that she expressed her hope that the two girls had shared one room while the two boys shared the other.

Somehow Arthur did not think that had been the case. And, judging by the barkeep's laughter and the "Yeah, right, Lady" that followed them out of the pub and inn, he was sure that he had been correct.

_Still_, he thought as he turned the paper in his hands, pretending to read it while lost in his thoughts, _I would like to see them, know that they were okay. And, only then, would I cast a spell on them so strong that they wouldn't be able to move for the next month._

He sighed. He knew that wouldn't really work. They were too smart. If they did visit, they would have a plan on how they would get away when it was time for them to leave.

* * *

As it happened, Arthur soon got his wish.

Later that afternoon, Molly and he were sitting in the living room, she was knitting as he read the paper he hadn't read earlier, when they heard a sound from the kitchen.

They looked questioningly at each other and then got up, making their way to the kitchen.

Molly followed by Arthur pushed the swinging door out of the way, and stood in shock at the scene in front of them.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were standing by the fireplace, brushing the soot that accompanies Floo travel off their robes and out of their hair.

Molly gave a little scream, startling the children, and ran up to them, drawing each of them into tight hugs and kissing each of them on the cheek.

"Oh, dears!" she cried, standing back a little and looking at each of them, clearing checking for any signs of injury.

Arthur stood a little further back, looking them over himself. They seemed fine. He couldn't _see_ any visible wounds on them.

Molly cried for a few seconds, hugged each of them again, and then let them going, her expression turning from happiness that they were there to anger.

"Where have you been? I cannot _believe_ that you left this house! Your father and I have been worried sick! And, Hermione your parents have fearful for your safety ever since they received the letter you wrote them…"

Arthur was about to stop Molly when he saw tears forming in Hermione's eyes, but she interrupted Molly before he had a chance to.

"Are they okay? You have told them some things right? You told them about the letter we sent recently?" she asked as Ron wrapped one arm around her shoulders.

"Oh, dear," Molly breathed, stepping toward Hermione again and drawing her into another hug. "They are fine. We told them everything we felt would be safe to tell them. We _did_ show them the letter. They come to the house every few weeks. They miss you very much."

Hermione and Molly released each other and Molly stepped back smiling at them. "But, its okay now. You're back. You can see your parents soon. You could apparate over there today if you want, or we could send them an owl and they would be here a couple hours after they receive it, I'm sure of it…"

"No, Mrs. Weasley, we already agreed we weren't going to see them. We'll only be here a few hours and apparating to see them would be too dangerous for them. Death Eaters would know where to find them," Harry spoke up.

"What do you _mean_ you'll only be here a few hours?" Arthur asked, stepping forward and more fully into the kitchen.

Ron looked around and then faced his father, looking him straight in the eyes. "We have to go back. We've got two leads on where to find two of the other Horcruxes. We only came here to see both of you."

Molly clenched her teeth, whispering angrily to them. "You are _not_ leaving again."

"We're sorry Mum, we have to," Ginny said, as Arthur noticed she and Harry were holding hands.

"No…"

"Please, Mum, let's just enjoy the short time we have here before we go back."

* * *

In the end, they stayed for about seven hours.

They told us how well things were going at this point, how they hadn't really run into any trouble other than the incident with Ravenclaw's heir. They told us how the mysterious letter had been from them and that they really had destroyed one of the Horcruxes.

They told us that they had gotten leads on where to find the two Horcruxes that had been made from objects belonging to the founders. And, they told us that after they destroy those objects, only Nagini, the snake that bit me, and You-Know-Who would be left.

And, they told us that they missed us and that they loved us. Even Harry and Hermione said this. And I am not ashamed to say that when Molly cried, I did too.

That, of course, isn't to say that we made it easy for them to leave.

Molly hid the Floo powder and I set up an anti-apparition spell and put a powerful lock on all the doors, but it didn't discourage them.

Hermione just made an illegal portkey, saying while she did so that before this was over they will have done many illegal things, and, then, they were off, clutching the spoon in their hands as they went.

I could say I am angry at them. Which in some ways I am. They are young, haven't even finished Hogwarts yet, but I knew they would find a way to escape.

Like I said before though, they are smart. If anyone will be able to defeat You-Know-Who, it will be them.

Even believing this, however, didn't stop me from pulling Ron aside before they left and telling him that if they needed anything at all, they didn't need to hesitate to contact us.

We would always be there for them and we would help in any way we could.

* * *

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were too depressed when they returned from the Burrow that evening that they went straight up to bed, figuring that tonight would not be the only night that Halen Cain came to the bar. Based on what the cloaked man said anyway, he frequented the place often, so they felt like they would not miss their chance if they waited until the next evening to wait for him.

As it happened, however, he did not come in the next evening.

By the third evening, they four teenagers were getting impatient.

"Here are you dinners," the barkeep said, smiling at them as she set the four plates down.

"Thank you, Mrs. Kendrick," Hermione said politely.

Mrs. Kendrick, who had only known them for a few days, was able to pick up on their frustration, as it was written clearly across their faces, and asked them what was wrong.

"I didn't get the order wrong, did I? I rarely have the problem anymore, but if I did…"

"Oh, no. Everything's fine," Hermione answered.

"Well, if you're sure…"

"We are. Thank you," Hermione said smiling at the friendly barkeep.

The four teenagers sat in silence, picking at their food, and glancing at the door whenever someone came in. So far however, just like the last few days, one young woman came in, she and Mrs. Kendrick disappeared upstairs for a minute and then Mrs. Kendrick came back down.

Today, however, the young woman came back downstairs about an hour later, going over to Mrs. Kendrick and whispering something to her, and, coughing, walked out the door.

Mrs. Kendrick let out a sigh as the woman left and walked over to the teenagers' table.

"I'm very sorry. I have to close the bar now. You can take your food up to your rooms if you would like…"

Harry and the others agreed, carrying the plates up the stairs and, in silent agreement, split up to go to their separate rooms.

"Good night," Ginny mumbled as she slid open her and Harry's door and stepping into the room.

"'Night," Hermione said in response, following Ron into their room.

* * *

Arthur and Molly were nervous about sending a message to the Grangers. They were afraid that Mr. and Mrs. Granger would be angry with them about not being able to keep a handle on the children so that they wouldn't be able to leave again.

But, their nervousness was useless. While Jonathan and Robin had been understandably upset that they had not been able to see their daughter, they had taken Arthur and Molly on their word that the children seemed fine.

They also accepted that Arthur and Molly tried everything they could think of to make sure they wouldn't be able to leave.

"Its okay, Molly," Robin replied, smiling sadly at her. "We know our daughter and, if nothing else, she is stubborn."

Molly smiled through the tears swimming in her eyes. "Ours, too." Her fingers traced over the pictures she had taken of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. _There aren't enough pictures_, she thought sadly, _I should have taken more_.

* * *

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny didn't have much luck during the Christmas Holiday and, when they asked Mrs. Kendrick why she didn't get business during this time, she said that everyone in the town went home to their families during Christmas.

"It's not like the big cities or towns," Mrs. Kendrick said kindly, wiping the counter before closing up. "Most people are a lot more traditional around here. Family is really important to them and they spend the Holidays with the family they have."

She was clearly trying to keep from inquiring as to why the four teenagers weren't with their family during the Holidays, but they hurried upstairs before she had the chance to ask.

* * *

On New Year's Day, a busy day for the bar, Mrs. Kendrick came over to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny's table.

"I have a favor to ask," she said as she set their food down. "Do you girls think that you could baby sit my son tonight. I really need to keep the bar open to make money and his normal baby sitter – the one who should be coming in to take over for Elsey – is sick."

Hermione and Ginny looked at each other in surprise. They had wondered why women would come to the bar during the day and follow Mrs. Kendrick upstairs, only to have her to return downstairs a few minutes later and continuing working at her bar. It hadn't occurred to them that they might be babysitting her child.

"If you can't that's fine. I could just close the bar. I don't want to make you feel like I'm putting you on the spot. I'll pay you to take care of him for a few hours – it would only be until one o'clock in the morning and it's already eight, so…"

Hermione and Ginny glanced at the boys. They had been hoping to see Halen Cain today and so didn't want to ditch Harry and Ron.

Harry shrugged. It probably wouldn't matter anyway. Halen Cain probably wouldn't show up, and if by chance he did, Harry doubted all of them would need to talk to him anyway. Besides that, if Mrs. Kendrick couldn't get a babysitter, the bar would be closed for the night and, so, if Halen Cain had planned on coming to the bar that night, it wouldn't matter.

"Sure," Hermione finally spoke. "We would be happy to help."

"Thank you so much. You are real lifesavers. You can bring you food with you. He's just upstairs."

Hermione and Ginny nodded, gathering their food and drinks and saying good bye to Ron and Harry.

"How old is he?" Ginny asked as she followed Mrs. Kendrick and Hermione up the stairs, toward what the girls figured must be Mrs. Kendrick's room.

"He's six months old. He shouldn't give you much trouble. He's never been a really fussy baby and he should be going to sleep soon anyway. Have either of you been around babies?"

"I have a lot of cousins, though I don't see them much," Ginny answered.

"What about you Hermione?" Mrs. Kendrick asked.

"I have several cousins, most of which are several years younger than me. I've helped changed nappies and things like that before so I think we'll be okay."

"That's fantastic. Although, don't hesitate to come downstairs if you need anything," Mrs. Kendrick said as she pulled some keys from her pocket and unlocked the door, and then used her wand to unlock the magical locks on the door. "Well, come on in. I'll just pay Elsey and tell her she can go. He's playing in that bedroom," she said, pointing toward the open door of a room. "His name is Aiden."

Hermione and Ginny nodded, setting their food on a table in the kitchen and then walking back toward the room she had indicated Aiden would be.

Aiden was indeed where his mother said he would be. He was sitting on the floor, sucking on the ear of a stuffed animal, all the while smiling and drooling happily.

"He's really cute," Hermione said as Mrs. Kendrick came in to the room.

"Thank you. He looks like his father. Brown hair and all. He only got my eyes and nose."

This was true. Aiden had straight brown hair, while his mother had black and his lips were thinner than his mother's. When he turned toward them, still laughing, Hermione and Ginny saw that his smile wasn't like his mother's either. In fact she was right saying that only his blue eyes and nose were like his mother's, because, other than that, the mother and son didn't have much in common, physically at least.

"Anyway, I have to get back downstairs. Again, if you need anything, just come down and tell me."

"Don't worry. We will, Mrs. Kendrick," Hermione answered.

"_Mrs. Kendrick_? Oh, please, I can't be more than five years older than either of you. Call me Branna," she said, smiling back at them and walking quickly out the door but not before swooping down to kiss Aiden on the cheek, who smacked his lips in response.

"I wonder where her husband is?" Ginny asked as she sat down on the floor beside Aiden.

Hermione joined them on the floor. "I don't know. I think there were pictures of him behind the bar – you know, family pictures, but they look like they were taken right after Aiden was born."

Ginny nodded, she had noticed those too.

* * *

The girls spent the rest of the night playing with Aiden. And, they had been happy to find that Branna was right, he wasn't very fussy.

After they played blocks and stuffed animals with Aiden, and then read him several books, they put him to bed. After he fell asleep in his crib, the girls finished their dinner and talked until Mrs. Kendrick – Branna – they corrected themselves, Harry, and Ron came through the front door.

"You girls can go now, thank you so much for all you help. Here you go," Branna said as she slipped some money into Hermione and Ginny's hands. After which they thanked her and complimented Aiden's good behavior.

* * *

"I think we should go see Luna and her father now," Ginny said three days later. "We aren't accomplishing anything here, and Branna told us that business would not be back to normal for about another week."

"That's probably a good idea," Harry answered. "Let's send them a message that we'll be there the day after tomorrow. I know we said that they probably wouldn't mind if we just came over, but it wouldn't hurt."

The others nodded and later that day, they watched as the post office's owl disappeared from view.

They received a response the next evening, and fortunately for them, both Luna and her father were at home and were 'looking forward to their visit so long as they didn't bring any Jimbles with them.'

"What are Jimbles?" Ron asked.

Hermione shrugged. "Who knows?" After the Department of Mysteries, Hermione had stopped caring about the weird things Luna chose to believe.

* * *

Zacharias was having a hard time of it.

Toolio obviously had conflictions over who he should be loyal to: Zacharias' parents or Zacharias.

Ever time Zacharias asked Toolio anything, he would clench his hands together and then grab what ever was in reach and hit himself upside the head with it.

It was slow going, not to mention painful for Toolio.

Zacharias sighed as he turned over in his bed, he would just have to convince Toolio that he should be loyal to him and _not_ his parents. After all, that was the only way he was ever going to learn anything.


	15. Every effort has been successful

_A/N: Thanks to pettybureaucrat, evil-mastermind666, abbeyroad18, and AGoofyWriter for reviewing. The reviews really encouraged me to write more. _

**Every effort has been successful**

The next day, right after lunch, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny bid Branna goodbye as they traveled by Floo to the Lovegood's.

They arrived seconds later, and were surprised by the people waiting for them in Luna's kitchen.

"Hi, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny." Neville greeted.

"Hey, Neville. What are you doing here?" Harry asked, stepping forward to greet him.

Neville blushed and looked quickly at Luna before turning back to Harry. "Well, um…"

Harry nodded, smiling. He was happy for Luna and Neville, but he had to say he was a little surprised.

Hermione and Ginny however didn't look surprised and acted as if this was old news.

_How is it_, Harry wondered, _that girls always seem to know about this stuff before blokes do?_

* * *

"So, you're saying that my Mum was trying to destroy a Horcrux when she died?" Luna asked.

"Based on the notes we found at my parents' house, it looks like she was working on it when she died. It also seems that the spell used to destroy the Horcrux is difficult and because of what happened to me when I was a baby, it seems that I am the only one who can destroy them without being harmed too greatly by it," Harry answered, looking from Luna to her father. The nice thing about Luna and her father believing all the strange things they do, they didn't object too much to what they had been told.

Mr. Lovegood nodded and cleared his throat. "And, now you're here trying to find the cup?"

"Yes."

Mr. Lovegood got up from his chair and motioned for the others to follow him. "After Celina died, I left the room she was working in alone, so everything should be the way it was when she was found." Mr. Lovegood led them down hallway, stopping after they had passed several doors. He reached out twisting the knob and then stopped short of opening the door.

"I…uh…haven't gone in that room since…"

"That's okay, Mr. Lovegood," Hermione said as he trailed off. "We can go in, you can stay out here."

Luna's father agreed, walking quickly down the hall, trying to get as far from the room as possible. "Close the door when you're done. I'll be in my office if you need me," he called behind him as he went.

Harry and the others pulled the door open and started to walk in the dark room, but stopped short when they saw the Neville and Luna were following them.

"What are you and Luna doing?" Harry asked, addressing Neville.

"We're going to help."

"No offense, but…" Harry began but was stopped by Luna.

"We helped before – at the Ministry. And, this is about my Mum. We're helping."

Harry nodded, knowing that at least for this, he couldn't stop them. Anyway, they might be of some help looking for the cup because the room they had just entered was a large one, not to mention messy. It looked as if something had exploded in here.

* * *

Several hours later and so far, their search had come up empty.

Ron collapsed in the sofa next to Hermione who had found some papers belong to Celina which she read while the rest of them searched the room.

"Find anything interesting?" Ron asked, slipping one arm behind her shoulders and leaning in next to her.

"Well, it looks like she really was trying to destroy the Horcrux. The last passage in her notes says that she was going to attempt to use the spell that Harry used to destroy the mirror."

"And, after that, she…died," Ron grimaced, looking over at Harry who was talking to Ginny. _Thank Merlin Harry didn't die when he used the spell._

Hermione sighed, looking at Ron, and instantly knew what he was thinking.

Before she could say anything, Ron spoke his thoughts aloud. "It's hard, you know? Being friends with someone whose life is constantly being threatened. Never mind that your own life becomes a little more dangerous. He's been really lucky so far – regardless of everything that has happened he's always made it so far. I hope that luck lasts."

Hermione nodded in agreement and leaned against Ron, suddenly very tired.

"If you two are finished playing around on that sofa, we were talking about getting some dinner," Ginny called over from the door where the teenagers, minus Ron and Hermione, were standing there smirking at them.

Ron got up, pulled Hermione to her feet, and followed them out of the room.

* * *

"That was very good, thank you Mr. Lovegood," Hermione said, as the others followed suit and thanked Mr. Lovegood for dinner.

"My pleasure. I'm just sorry you didn't find anything. You're free to come back anytime though."

"Actually, we were going to come back tomorrow. We found some notes and want to look over them," Harry answered.

"That's fine."

"I had a question, sir," Ginny spoke up. "You said that you haven't gone in the room since…well, anyway, I was wondering if anyone else had been in that room? We couldn't find the cup, but, if nothing has been moved, it should be there."

"If anyone has gone in that room, I certainly didn't know about it. Of course, we do go on a lot of trips, Luna and I. I guess our sometimes long absences would have given someone the chance to come in here without our knowledge."

The four teens nodded absentmindedly, each thinking that if that had been the case, who stole the cup? And, more importantly, how would the thief have known that of all the things in the room, the cup was the important thing?

* * *

"Well, obviously, if someone did steal the cup from the Lovegood's house, they knew what they were looking for. Which means that have to know about the Horcruxes," Hermione said, looking to her other companions while they sat later that night in Ginny and Harry's bedroom at the Inn.

Harry looked grim. "Which means, it was Voldemort. Or a Death Eater."

"We should also consider if it was stolen recently," Ron said, stretching his legs out in front of him. "If it _was_ stolen recently, then we need to be more careful, because someone knows we're looking for it."

The others agreed, staring into space, contemplating all they had learned that day.

"It was nice seeing Neville and Luna," Ginny said after a few minutes of silence.

Harry nodded in agreement, as did Ron and Hermione.

"I didn't know they were dating."

Ginny smirked at Harry in response. "Hermione and I knew."

Harry smiled in response. "Why is that? How do girls always know that kind of thing?"

Ginny shrugged. "Because Luna told us. Blokes don't talk about their relationships with girls as much, I guess," Ginny stopped and narrowed her eyes, but smiled as she did so, at Harry and Ron. "Except when it's about the physical stuff."

* * *

The next morning, after greeting Branna and baby Aiden, the four teenagers when back to Luna's.

Today, however, Mr. Lovegood did not greet them along with Luna and Neville.

"My Dad had to go to the office today. He won't be back for hours."

"Okay," Harry replied. "Let's go. I hope we can find something."

Although they spent the next several hours pouring over the notes that Luna's mum had left behind, they, unfortunately, were no closer to finding anything about who might have taken the Horcrux.

"How did you come to decide to look here?" Luna asked, breaking the silence.

Harry looked up from the notes he had been reading. "Your mother was mentioned in the notes we found at my parents house. After we visited the Smiths' house, we came here."

Neville's face screwed up in confusion. "The Smiths?"

"They're the descendents of Hufflepuff."

Neville nodded.

"Maybe they lied," Luna suggested, looking around at the group. "Maybe they still have the cup. If it was an heirloom, they might not want to give it up."

Harry tilted his head to the side considering this. "But, if they do have it, short of sneaking into their house, we won't be able to get to it. Anyway, we wouldn't know where to look even if we did manage to sneak into their house undetected."

"Did you tell them what you wanted the cup for?" Neville asked.

"We said we were collecting it for an exhibit that Hogwarts was making. We didn't want to tell them about the Horcruxes. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were suspicious though, so we figure they didn't really buy the cover story."

Luna rolled her eyes. "Well, Marcus and Olivia Smith have always been rather suspicious of people. When my father and I found out that they were breeding Heliopath, we went to question them about it, but they told us to leave. Practically pushed us out the door!"

Neville, choosing to ignore the comment about Heliopath, scrunched up his face in concentration. "You said Mr. Smith's name was Marcus?"

"Yes. Why, Neville?" Luna asked, looking questioningly at her boyfriend.

"It's just…you know how my mum always gives me those gum wrappers?"

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny shared uncomfortable looks. Neville's parents 'situation' must be really hard to deal with and they didn't know what to say.

Neville noticed the looks, but waved it off, although, as he did so, his hands shook. "See, I never told my Gran this, but the same word was always written on the gum wrappers my mum gave me. I always figured that my mum thought that my name was Marcus and that's why she wrote it. But, maybe it has something to do with Mr. Smith."

"But, how did you parents know the Smiths other than probably being in Hogwarts at the same time, how could they had been associated with each other? And, what would they be trying to tell you about him?" Hermione asked.

"Well, they might have been friends growing up. I don't really know. It was just a suggestion."

"And, a good one Neville. We need to remember that." Ron nodded encouragingly at him.

* * *

Soon after, they decided to stop and get some lunch. Again, they, along with Neville and Luna, went back to the inn to get some meals from Branna.

She greeted them enthusiastically when they came through the fireplace.

"Hello, Branna. Hello, Aiden." Hermione greeted, making her way to Branna, who was holding Aiden at her hip. "Could we get some food? The six of us."

Branna smiled kindly. "Sure, Hermione. Let me just put Aiden in the playpen behind the bar."

"Oh. I could hold him."

"If it's not any bother."

"It's not," Hermione reassured the woman.

"If he gets too heavy go ahead and put him in the playpen."

"Sure." Hermione said, taking Aiden into her arms and carrying him over to the table her friends were occupying and sat down beside Ron.

"Hey, little buddy," Ron said, shaking Aiden's hand as Aiden laughed with glee.

After they had learned from Branna that Aiden's father was killed in a Death Eater attack a month after he was born, the four teenagers had taken a liking to him as well as his mother.

* * *

Zacharias moved quickly through the house, hoping that his parents wouldn't return from their "meeting" too soon.

"It has to be here somewhere," he mumbled quietly to himself as he shoved things around room.

"Damn it. Toolio said this is where they kept it."

Zacharias continued shuffling things around frantically until, finally, something glittery caught his eye.

There it was.

Hufflepuff'scup.

* * *

After eating lunch and discussing what they could do about finding the cup, the Harry and the others were heading toward the fireplace to return to Luna's house. But, commotion at the front door of the pub stopped them.

A drunk man had just stumbled into the bar, making his way over to the bar.

"Firewhiskey," he grumbled, slumping into a bar stool.

Branna sighed and quickly put Aiden into the play pen behind her, planning to take him upstairs as soon as she had the chance. It was fine to have him out during the day. Not many people came in during the day, and when they did, it was to get food, not alcohol. "You're here earlier than normal Cain."

"Just serve the Firewhiskey girl."

Branna rolled her eyes and slid a large glass, filled to the brim, in front of her customer.

Harry sucked in his breath and looked anxiously at the others. "Did she say Cain?"

"That must be Halen," Ron whispered back.

"Who?" Neville asked quietly.

"We think he has one of the other Horcruxes – the locket," Ginny answered quietly as they watched Halen slurped down the alcohol, some of it spilling onto his stained shirt.

"We should question him now. We need to be careful though. We were told that he was dangerous."

Neville and Luna nodded in understanding, before following them back to a table to watch Halen for a few minutes, deciding what to do.

"I think I'll take Aiden upstairs. Branna looked like she was uncomfortable with him being down here while someone was drunk," Hermione said, walking over to the bar for a moment. The others watched as she talked quietly with Branna and then took Aiden upstairs.

When Hermione returned a few minutes later, the others had decided that the best option would be for a couple of them to go up there and try to casually strike up a conversation with Halen.

"I think Ron and I should go up there. The rest of you watch carefully incase he tries anything, you four can back us up."

Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna nodded in agreement, each making sure their wands were in easy reach.

Harry and Ron walked over to the bar, Harry sitting down beside Halen. Ron followed suit, sitting down beside Harry instead Halen so that it wouldn't seem like they were ganging up on him.

Halen looked drunkenly over at them, but turned back to stare into his drink, which was now almost completely empty.

In an attempt to act as if they were just customers, Harry and Ron ordered a couple of Butterbeers.

Branna handed over the drinks, looking confused, and then went over to the table Hermione and the others were sitting.

"What are they doing?" she asked, nodding over at Harry and Ron.

Hermione and looked at Ginny who shrugged. She turned back to Branna, trying to be vague with her response. "They just wanted to talk to that guy."

"Why would they want to talk to Halen?"

Ginny ignored the question and asked some of her own. "What is Halen like? How well do you know him?"

Hermione scooted over in the booth and signaled for Branna to sit beside her.

Branna took up the offer and sunk into the soft seat. "Halen is a bit of a trouble maker. And, I've got to say he has been pretty popular lately. Someone else came here about a month ago. They talked for a few minutes and then Halen lunged at him. They fought. Some of the other male customers broke them apart and Halen was kicked out. I don't like him being here, but I need the money. He's an alcoholic, gives me a lot of business."

Hermione and Ginny nodded as Neville and Luna attempted to get caught up in what was going on.

Hermione continued the questioning. "And, this man, he was wearing a cloak that covered his face?"

Branna looked mildly surprised. "He sure was. Can you tell me what is going on?"

"We just need to talk to him. We think he has something that belongs to us."

"You, and the cloaked figure. He said the exact same thing when they talked to each other. Do you know the cloaked man? You must, since you know so much about him."

"Well, we don't really know him per se, but we have met him and talked to him some."

"And, he's looking for the same thing you are."

Ginny nodded. "It's important that we get it."

Branna glanced suspiciously over at Halen. "And, you're sure that he has what ever it is that you're looking for with him?"

"Pretty sure. The cloaked man seemed to think so," Ginny answered.

Branna nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

With that Branna got up and made her way back to the bar where Halen was demanding, quite loudly, for another Firewhiskey.

Branna filled another glass, but, without Halen's notice, she slipped a vial of potion into the alcohol as well, where it quickly spread throughout the drink.

"Here Halen," Branna said, turning around to face Halen and handing him the drink.

Halen burped loudly, taking the drink from Branna's hands and pouring half of it down his throat.

Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna watched as Harry and Ron continued to try engaging Halen in conversation. Halen, however, didn't seem interested, and he continued sucking down the drink.

A few minutes later, however, everyone, but Branna, was shocked, when Halen slipped off of his stool and fell with a thud onto the ground.

"What happened?" Harry exclaimed, looking in amazement at Halen, who seemed dead to the world.

"I used a potion on him. He'll be knocked out for the next few hours. It's a really handy potion to have when customers get to rowdy," Branna said, walking out from behind the bar and waving her wand across the pub door, effectively locking it and turning over the sign so that it now read 'Closed.'

Harry and Ron looked at her in surprise.

"Well, don't just sit there. He will wake up eventually. You need to see if he has the thing you were looking for. And, I'm not touching him so you're going to have to do it."

Harry and Ron both nodded, looking over at Hermione and the others.

"We told her a little about why we wanted to talk to Halen." Hermione said in response to their questioning look.

Harry got up from his chair, followed by Ron, and the others sitting in the booth.

They made their way over to the fallen man. Harry leaned down and started rifling through the various pockets in his robe.

Harry pulled out several knives and a wand. "That cloaked guy wasn't kidding when he said Halen was violent."

Branna stood slightly behind them watching quietly, but obviously fearful. _This was the kind of man I allowed in the same building as my child?_

Harry continued looking through Halen's pockets until, at last, he pulled out a heavy box.

Harry looked around at the others and then turned back to the box, opening it and looking inside. He sighed with relief.

They had found the locket.


	16. At the moment of death

_A/N: Thanks to pettybureaucrat for reviewing._

**At the moment of death**

"What are we going to do with him?" Ron pointed to Halen, who was snoring loudly. "When he wakes up, he'll be angry."

"We could shove him in the fireplace and use the Floo. When he wakes up, it will take him a while to figure out where he is. I can set up a barrier that keeps him from Flooing back," Branna suggested, looking to the others for their opinion.

"Brilliant!" Ron exclaimed as Harry and the others grinned at the suggestion.

Hermione's grin vanished though when something occurred to her. "What happens when he makes his way back here? He'll be angry and we don't want you or Aiden hurt."

Branna swore softly. "I didn't think of that. Maybe we should just obliviate him."

The others agreed. After Branna did a weak obliviate on him, they followed through with Branna's previous plan and shoved him into the fireplace. Branna tossed some Floo powder into the fireplace and after Harry's suggestion, Branna directed the Floo to take Halen to The Crow's Nest.

"He'll fit right in there," Ron said, thinking of the vermin infested inn they had stayed at while looking for Ian Daley.

"What are you going to do with that now?" Branna asked, motioning to the locket. "I hoped there was a purpose in stealing it, that I didn't just help a group of jewelry thieves." Branna smiled softly at them, showing that she was kidding about the last comment.

"We have to destroy it," Harry said, looking down at the locket in his hand.

Confusion knitted Branna's eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because it's evil."

* * *

Turning away from the fireplace, Harry, Ron, and Hermione began securing and blocking the windows and doors, making sure that no one outside could look into the bar.

Once finished blocking the last window, Harry put the locket down on the ground. "Everyone stand back," he said, motioning to the others as he stepped back, stopping a few feet away from the locket.

Silently they did as he asked. While Ron, Hermione, and Ginny knew exactly what to expect, Neville, Luna, and Branna looked questioningly, anxious to see what would occur.

Harry breathed deeply and raised his wand. Then, he stopped and spun around to face them. "Hermione, what is the word for locket?"

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed. In their haste to find and destroy the locket, they had forgotten this essential piece of information. Lucky for them, Hermione had already looked up and memorized the Latin words Harry would need to destroy the Horcruxes. "It's lokettum."

Harry nodded and turned around as Ron smiled proudly at Hermione, taking her hand in his.

"Amo lokettum!" Harry said, performing the complicated wand movement as he spoke the incantation.

Nothing happened.

"Damn it!" Harry exclaimed.

Ginny shook her head and rushed up to Harry, whispering something in his ear and kissing him on the lips before hurrying back to her position beside Ron.

Harry was embarrassed to feel that he was blushing a little from Ginny's comment. However, it seemed to have worked, because, as he spoke the incantation again, the locket began to splinter, tiny shards of gold flying around the room. Again, Harry and the others were forced to cover themselves or duck to keep from being hit by the flying debris.

Once the whirlwind of gold shards ended, Harry got up, making his way over to Ginny to make sure she was all right.

Similarly, Ron and Hermione, Neville and Luna were checking over each other.

"Alright Branna?" Harry asked, after he was sure that Ginny was okay.

"I'm fine," she answered, looking in amazement at the spot of the floor where the locket had been sitting. "What was that?"

After everything she had done for them, giving them a place to stay, befriending them, and helping them with Halen Cain, Harry felt that it would be okay to tell Branna some of what was going on. And so, for the next few minutes, he explained about the Horcruxes and that they were trying to destroy them.

"So, you six are trying to kill He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Branna asked, eyes wide.

Harry nodded. "We're going to kill Voldemort and his followers."

"That's very dangerous, you know? The Death Eaters, they…" Branna trailed off, her eyes glazed over in memories of her husband's death.

"We know. We have faced them before. And, we're going to have to do it again."

"Well, Merlin bless all of you. I'm sure you'll succeed. You're all so brave. If you need any help with anything else, just ask," Branna smiled fondly at each of them, before rushing upstairs to answer Aiden's cries for attention.

* * *

Later that day, after sending another owl to the Weasleys to tell them of their success, Harry and the others (along with Branna and Aiden) celebrated the destruction of the Horcrux.

As the party was settling down, Luna and Neville announced that they were going back to Luna's house to tell Mr. Lovegood that they would be staying at the inn with Harry and the others.

Harry, looking a little uncomfortable about an addition to the people he was involving in the hunt, was stopped by a look from Ginny, and, instead of trying to stop them, simply nodded.

When Luna and Neville returned about an hour later, Luna moved across the room to Hermione, Ginny, Branna, and Aiden, asking the first two where their room was.

"Um, we don't share a room Luna," Ginny said.

"Oh. You all have your own rooms then, because that has got to be expensive." At the looks on Hermione and Ginny's looks, Luna's eyes widened greater than normal, catching on to what they were implying. "Oh! You and Harry," Luna motioned to Ginny and then turned to Hermione. "You and Ron."

Hermione and Ginny nodded.

Hermione cleared her throat. "If that makes you uncomfortable though, we can change rooms around, or rent two extra rooms."

"No," Luna said, shaking her head slightly and looking over at Neville who was talking quietly to Harry and Ron. "Neville and I can share."

Ginny grinned. "Have you and Neville…?"

"Not yet," Luna shook her head. "With Daddy around so much, it's been pretty much impossible to do anything."

* * *

"So," Neville said, approaching Harry and Ron. "Which room are you two staying in?"

"Well, Hermione and I share a room. So do Harry and Ginny," Ron said, biting back a smile at Neville's blush.

Neville choked on his Butterbeer. "Oh…uh…"

"It's okay Neville. If you and Luna aren't comfortable sharing a room," Harry began, but was interrupted by Luna, who had broken away from the girls, and was now standing beside Neville.

"Can you help me take my bags up to the room, Neville?" As she was not seventeen yet, she, just like Ginny, wasn't going to attempt using magic unless necessary.

"Uh, Luna, Hermione and Ginny aren't sharing a room," Neville replied, blushing even more.

"I know. I rented a room from Branna for you and me to share." Luna turned and made her way to the staircase, turning to throw Neville a look and then continued up the stairs.

Neville's eyes widened and he got up quickly from the table, rushing forward to follow Luna up the stairs.

"Hey, Neville!" Ron called.

Neville turned around and was embarrassed to see that in his haste to follow Luna, he had forgotten her bags.

He face glowing even redder, he hurried back, grabbed the bags, and turned back, disappearing upstairs.

"Neville's going to get…" Ron began to say.

"Neville's going to get _what_, Ron?" Hermione asked, arching her eyebrow as she folded her arms in front of her and stared at Ron.

"Nothing, love," Ron answered, knowing that both she and him knew what he had been about to say.

* * *

Upstairs, Neville brushed his sweaty hands across his trousers.

He watched anxiously as Luna moved around the room, unpacking a few essentials.

Finally, once she was done, she turned back to Neville and stared at him for a few moments until he couldn't stand the tension any more and spoke up.

"Do you want me to sleep on the floor? Because I can do that. It's fine."

Luna smiled. And, to Neville's amazement, shook her head. "I really like you Neville. I love you, even. We've been friends for about a year now. And, we've been dating for about eight months. I think we should show each other how we feel. Our courtship has already surpassed that of the Jimbles and their courtship is longer than any known animal."

"Right," Neville said. He had heard Luna talk about Jimbles before, although as far as he knew, they weren't real. But, after spending as much time with her as he had, he knew that it wasn't a good idea to point this out to her.

_Wait, did she say **love**?_ It was true that they had been together for a while. And, they had been friends first, which does help. Looking at Ron and Hermione showed that. _But, did he love her?_ Neville stared at Luna for a few minutes, trying to imagine what it would be like if she wasn't in his life. And, that's when he realized, what he had been feeling for her for the last few months, wasn't just like, it was love. He would be devastated if she was gone. His life, for sure, would be boring. She made it exciting. And, they had a lot in common. They both had to deal with painful pasts and, so, understood each other, better than others ever had. And, he cared about her so much. If someone was to hurt her, he would _hurt_ that person; in fact, he would _kill_ that person if he had to.

"I love you, too, Luna," Neville answered confidently.

Luna smiled dreamily and walked over to him, pulling him down so that their lips met in a kiss.

While at Hogwarts, they had had plenty of time to kiss, but when they got to Luna's, with her father's constant supervision, they hadn't had much of a chance.

It was nice to kiss again without fearing that Luna's father would walk in on them.

Neville broke the kiss and looked down at Luna. "We don't have to, you know? If you don't want to."

"I want to," Luna whispered, pulling him back into a kiss.

* * *

As soon as Zacharias packed his trunk, and making sure to take the cup with him, he apparated to Ottery St. Catchpole.

The Weasleys lived around here somewhere. He knew that much from his friend Michael Corner, who used to dated Ginny. He just hoped he would be able to find them before his parents found out he had stolen the cup.

_Moreover, while I am on the subject of my parents_, Zacharias thought as he walked quickly up and down the streets of the town, hoping to see one of the Weasleys, _I cannot believe them._ _They were always telling me to uphold the honor of our family name, but they were destroying that honor much worse than I ever could._

Zacharias shook his head, trying to get away from the anger and distrust he was feeling towards his parents and focus instead on finding the Weasleys. They, after all, would be able to help him. Or so he hoped.

After about twenty minutes, however, he was beginning to fear that he was not going to find them. After passing by a paper mill, Zacharias decided he had better ask one of the town's people, which he knew was risky since they were muggles and might not even know the Weasleys. Luckily, however, just as he was about to find someone to ask, he smacked into someone, sending them both to the ground.

"Sorry," Zacharias mumbled not even looking at the other person.

"Smith?"

Zacharias' head snapped up at the familiar voice. It was George (or Fred?) Weasley. He's twin brother was standing beside them staring at Zacharias with a look equally as suspicious as his brother's.

"Thank Merlin. I found you," Zacharias said, getting up from the ground.

"More like tried to kill us," George answered, rubbing his bruised rib as he got up from the ground as well. "What are you doing here?"

"Potter and his friends came to see my parents several months ago. They were looking for something. I found it."

"Found what?" Fred asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Can we not talk about this here? My parents are probably looking for me and I do not want them to find me," Zacharias pleaded, desperation kicking in.

"Afraid you'll get grounded for taking something that was mummy and daddy's?" Fred sneered.

Zacharias ground his teeth, thinking of how to prove to them that he was telling the truth. He didn't blame them after all, for how they were acting toward him. He hadn't treated them or Potter very well in fifth year.

Zacharias reached into his pocket, producing his shrunken trunk. He waved his wand, performing the spell that would restore it to its original size, and opened the trunk, digging around for the cup.

"This is what I want to give Potter," Zacharias said, holding up the cup.

Fred and George exchanged looks and then turned back to Zacharias.

"Where did you get the cup?" Fred asked.

"I stole it from my parents."

"Why?"

"Because Potter came looking for it. And, they lied to him…I found out bad things about my parents…things I never thought were true, but now it seems like what I've heard about them is true." Zacharias sighed. "I just want to give Potter the cup. When he and his friends came to visit, they seemed to think it was important."

"Why would they think that?"

Zacharias glared at Fred and George. "I don't know! All I know is that this cup used to belong to Helga Hufflepuff and…"

George interrupted. "That's enough. We believe you. Since you don't know where we live, do side-long with me."

Zacharias nodded, quickly putting the cup back into his trunk, shrinking it, and grabbing George's arm as he apparated them back to the Weasleys' house.

* * *

The next morning, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna were all awoken by the sound of screams and yelling.

They met in the hallway outside their rooms and, with wands drawn, made their way downstairs, toward the commotion.

Near the bottom of the stairs, they stopped, looking at the scene in front of them in shock.

Two hooded Death Eaters stood over Branna's fallen body.

"Where are they, girl?" one of the Death Eaters, who Harry recognized to be Lucius Malfoy.

"I thought he was in Azkaban," Ginny whispered so that no one but the six of them could hear.

"He must have broken out," Harry answered, looking around to see if there were other Death Eaters.

Luckily, Malfoy Sr. and the second Death Eater seemed to be the only Death Eaters there.

The bad part, however, was that the second Death Eater was, most definitely, the huge Death Eater from the battle at Hogwarts.

Even though it was six against two, this was not going to be an easy fight.

Harry motioned to the others to follow him down the stairs. When they were about five feet away from the Death Eaters, who had their backs to the teenagers as they interrogated Branna, Harry pointed his wand straight at the huge Death Eater and shouted a stunning spell. The Death Eater was, for the most part, unaffected, and he and Malfoy turned around to face the six teenagers.

Streams of various colors from different curses began flying almost immediately as the people in the room, save Branna who was withering around on the floor in agony from her previous torture, attacked their opponents.

A few minutes later, the hooded man who had helped them in the past burst through the door, stopping to take in what was happening.

Rushing forward, he whipped out his wand, helping Harry and the others fight Malfoy and the other massive Death Eater.

Seeing that they were outnumbered, and not having much success fighting their seven opponents, the two Death Eaters apparated from the room a few minutes later, but not before Malfoy Sr. cast an effective curse at the hooded figure, causing him to cry out and fall to the ground.

Hermione rushed over to check on Branna as the others quickly secured the area and went to check out the hooded man who was getting shakily to his feet.

"Branna? Are you okay?"

The fallen woman looked up a Hermione. "…Take Aiden…" Her lung had been punctured and her words came out airy and strained.

Hermione sucked in a breath. "You'll be fine. Help will come Branna…"

"No…" the woman stopped and let in a shallow breath. "No family left…he has no one…please."

Tears were streaming down Hermione's cheeks and she looked at the pained woman's face.

"Please…take him…love him" she begged once more before gasping and clutching her side where blood was flowing freely.

"I will. You don't need to worry. I'll take care of him," Hermione said, smoothing the woman's hair away from her face in a soothing gesture.

Branna smiled weakly. "…Thank you…" Her eyes slipped closed, a small smile still on her lips and her breath stopped, all life leaving her injured body.

* * *

"We have to get out of here," the hooded man said, turning to the others. "They had to have gone to get help."

Harry nodded, following the others quickly upstairs, throwing their stuff into trunks, and hurrying back downstairs, along with Hermione who had Aiden in her arms.

"Branna died," Hermione answered their questioning looks, her eyes shinning with unshed tears. "She asked me to take him. He doesn't have any family left."

Harry, Ron, and Ginny, who had known Branna the longest, and had come to like her very much, looked over at where she lay motionless on the floor.

The hooded man grew impatient. "That's fine, take him then. We have to leave. Come on."

"Where are we going?" Harry asked.

"The Burrow." With that, the hooded man left the shocked teenagers behind. After they got over their shock, they hurried over to the Floo. It would be easier than apparating as Hermione had Aiden with her, Neville didn't know what the Burrow looked like, and neither Ginny nor Luna could apparate.

Harry and Ginny went first, followed by Neville and Luna. After Hermione pressed Aiden's face against her shirt so that he wouldn't choke on ash, Ron and Hermione stepped into the fireplace. Ron's arms wrapped around Hermione and Aiden, and seconds later, they were stepping out into the Burrow's kitchen.

* * *

Once Ron and Hermione dusted ash off themselves and Aiden, they looked around the kitchen and were surprised by what greeted them.

Mrs. Weasley was crying and hugging Harry and Ginny, as well as a surprised and slightly embarrassed Neville and Luna.

This was not unusual though. What they did find surprising was that Hermione's parents and a boy were sitting at the kitchen table, watching them.

Ron barely looked at the boy, but did a double take when he realized that it was Zacharias Smith.

"What are you doing here?" Ron asked Zacharias.

"Who are you?" Harry demanded looking at the hooded figure.

"One question at a time," Arthur said. His wife hadn't noticed the hooded figure, so glad was she to see that Harry and Ginny, and then Ron, Hermione, and their two friends were okay. Nevertheless, Arthur had noticed him. And, he wanted answers as well. "Let's go with Harry's question first. How are you?"

The hooded man's spine straightened, and he seemed to be steeling himself for what he was about to say.

"I would think after so many years, you would recognize me, Dad," Percy answered, as he whipped off the hood of his robe and stared sadly at his father and mother. "Although after everything that's happened, the way I've been acting, I guess I can't blame you."


	17. Pray for us

_A/N: Thanks to evil-mastermind666, pettybureaucrat, ChocoholicMonkeyfish, and Snowy-Mel for reviewing. I really appreciate it._

**Pray for us**

"Percy?" Mrs. Weasley cried out in surprise, before rushing over to him and giving him a tight hug.

And, for the first time in over two years, he returned her hug, causing her to burst into tears.

"Oh, Mum," Percy mumbled gritting his teeth as he blinked back some tears of his own.

"Why are you here, Percy? Why did you help us?" Ron asked. He didn't really mean to sound rude, but a part of him was angry and distrustful of Percy. After two years of watching his mum cry over her wayward son, he didn't know how much he liked Percy at the moment. And, he was very curious to know what had caused Percy to turn his back on his beloved Ministry and return to his family.

After their mother settled down some, Percy extracted himself from her arms and turned to face the people in the kitchen.

He fumbled around a bit, wiping his hands on his robes, and taking a few deep breaths. "I heard stuff. At the Ministry. Meetings between the Minister and some other people. At first, I didn't think anything about it. I wasn't allowed in the meetings, they were strictly between the Minister and these people, but I heard a few things. After a while, I realized they were talking about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Horcruxes, which you all seem to know about. They talked about you too, Harry," Percy's voice became more agitated, nervous, and fearful from this point on. "I think the Minister is in league with him, Dad. I never would have believed it. I know I was wrong in the past: about how I acted and about how I believed everything the Minister did and said. But, I'm sure I'm right about this."

Percy turned to the six teenagers. "After seeing a few of the people who would leave the Minister's office, I knew I needed to do something. And, that's why I decided to help the four – now six – of you. I gathered what information I could about the Horcruxes and tried to find their locations or who might have them."

"Who did the Minister have meetings with?" Harry asked.

"Lucius Malfoy, after he broke out of prison. He would only meet with the Minister late at night, when everyone had gone home, or, he would come by way of the fireplace in the Minister's office so that no would see him, or at least that's how I figure he got into the office considering I wouldn't see him come in. I don't know much about the other people who would meet with the Minister, but I would bet they were Death Eaters as well."

"How come you're voice sounded so different?" Ginny asked.

Percy turned red at this point and reached into the pocket of his robes. "I used these," he answered, looking sheepishly at them, holding up the wrapper in his hand.

Ron burst out laughing, as did several other people in the room.

It was one of Fred and George's trick candies – one that obviously disguised a person's voice.

* * *

After a few more minutes of talking with Percy, a lull in the conversation allowed Ron to ask his previous question. "So, why are you here, Smith?" 

Zacharias shifted around uneasily in his seat. "I found out my parents are Death Eaters. They lied to you about the cup. I have it with me."

Harry's head shot up. "Once we destroy this one, all the Horcruxes except for Nagini will be dead. Then we can go after Voldemort."

Hermione shifted around in her seat, which caused Aiden, who had until that moment been sleeping peacefully in her arms, to cry out in outrage at being disturbed.

Until that moment, no one, neither Mr. and Mrs. Weasley nor Hermione's parents, had taken much notice in the baby in Hermione's arms – they had been so caught up in the other excitements of that evening.

"Here, let me take him, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, rushing around and picking the baby up out of her arms.

"Who is he, Hermione?" Mrs. Granger asked, looking at her daughter questioningly. If the baby had been even five months younger, she would be asking if the baby was her daughter's, but, since he looked to be about eight to nine months old, she knew that wasn't possible.

"His name is Aiden. His mother was just killed by Death Eaters," Hermione answered, looking anxiously over at Aiden, who was cooing softly as Mrs. Weasley rocked him in her arms.

"He must have family," Mr. Granger commented.

Hermione shook her head. "His father is dead, too. Branna, his mother, said that they didn't have any other family."

"What's going to happen to him then?"

Hermione looked at Ron, who smiled softly at her and turned back to the rest of the people sitting around the kitchen table.

"We're going to keep him."

Mrs. Weasley gasped softly, so as not to wake the baby. "Ronald, this is not a pet that you just picked up from the street…"

Ron rolled his eyes. "I know that, Mum. I don't think Aiden is a pet."

"You're not even married to Hermione, Ron. And, you know nothing about babies," Mrs. Weasley continued to huff.

"I know, Mum. But, Branna asked us if we would take him. His own mother thought we were mature enough to take care of her son."

Mr. Weasley broke in, trying to defuse some of the tension. They didn't need to argue about this right now. "We got some letters for you."

Mr. Weasley got up from his chair and walked over to one of the kitchen drawers, opening it, and taking a small stack of papers out.

"These were owled to us about three months ago. We didn't open them. We were waiting to give them to you when you returned." With that, Mr. Weasley handed out the papers to each of them.

Hermione opened the sealed envelope, unfolded the paper, and began reading.

_From the Offices of Abberley and Kite_

_2640 Eerie Avenue_

_London_

_Miss Hermione Granger:_

_The last will and testament of Mrs. Deidre Dearborn states that you are one of five beneficiaries._

_Upon receiving this letter, your money, which comes to the sum of 250,000 galleons, will be put into a Gringott's vault for safekeeping. If you already have a Gringott's account, the money will automatically be credited to your account. If you do not already have an account at Gringott's Bank, which is located in Diagon Alley in London, one will have been created for you. If the latter is the case, you are responsible for retrieving the key from Gringott's staff._

_If you have any questions pertaining to the contents of Mrs. Deidre Dearborn's will, you may contact Mr. Abberley or Mr. Kite at the above address._

_If you chose not to accept the money please contact our offices as soon as possible and the money will be divided up between the remaining beneficiaries, as stipulated by the will._

_With regards,_

_Mr. Nigel Abberley and Mr. Richard Kite_

Hermione looked up from the letter and met her friends' equally surprised faces.

"Why would she put us in her will? She didn't know us for that long," Ginny asked, as she looked down at the key her father had handed her.

"Well, she did say she had no other relatives. Maybe she was going to give the money to her friend, remember, the one we saw in the mirror. Or to a charity. Then, after she met us, she changed her will. Her husband and sons were killed by Death Eaters, and she knew what we were trying to do," Hermione replied. She was just as shocked as they were. Maybe Mrs. Dearborn, who had already sacrificed her life for them and what they were doing, was attempting to help them in any way she could and, so, had written them into her will.

"Who's will, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking at the four teenagers.

"Mrs. Dearborn, the woman who was killed not long after we left. The one that was related to Ravenclaw."

Mrs. Weasley remembered that woman and the story about her death in the Daily Prophet. From what was said in later news articles, the woman was very wealthy. This, of course, made since considering she was a descendent of Ravenclaw. All of the descendents of Hogwarts founders were wealthy.

Still, it would be difficult for her son and Hermione to raise a baby. Aiden seemed to get on well with them - he had lain in Hermione's arms without complaint for the last hour, which, considering what they had just been through, was a surprise. Ron and Hermione would, she knew, get married – she had seen how they had acted toward each other over the years and Ginny had told her what when on in their sixth year. Anyway, any doubt she might have had was erased after reading the letter Ron had left them when her son, daughter, and their friends left for Godric's Hollow.

Mrs. Weasley sighed. She couldn't exactly go against what Aiden's mother had wished anyway. In the wizarding world, a person could not go against a wish like this. There was magic in the request, and if Branna wished for Ron and Hermione to take Aiden, and they had agreed to it, then they would now be viewed by the wizarding world as his parents. "Well, having the money to raise the baby will help, but you will need emotional support. Your father and I will be here if you need anything at all."

Mr. Granger looked at Mrs. Weasley surprised. "You're just going to allow this?"

"We don't have any choice really. If Aiden's mother asked them to take Aiden, and they accepted, magically, they are bond to be his parents," Mr. Weasley responded.

"And, I agreed," Hermione spoke up looking at her father.

"_We_ agreed," Ron chimed in, squeezing Hermione's hand gently.

After a few moments, Mrs. Granger spoke up. "Then, we'll be here for you too, dear."

Hermione smiled at each of them in turn. "Thanks, Mum, Dad, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley."

* * *

"Okay, I need everyone to stand back, while I destroy the cup." 

Everyone in the kitchen stood back, giving Harry the room he requested.

"Hermione?" Harry asked, looking back at Hermione with a little smile.

"Amo scaphium, Harry," Hermione answered, smiling in return.

"Thanks," Harry turned back, facing the Horcrux. "You might as well duck for cover now; these things like to explode."

He took a deep breath and focused all his thoughts on Ginny, the dream, and the provocative image Ginny had whispered to him right before he destroyed the locket.

"Amo scaphium!"

Sure enough, as with the other Horcruxes, the cup split into pieces, showering the room and occupants with shards of metal.

"Great job, Harry," Ginny said as she came up and hugged him.

* * *

Later that night, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Zacharias were all sitting in the living room, talking quietly as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Percy, Aiden, and Hermione's parents had already gone to bed. 

Hermione's parents were staying with them at the Burrow now – had in fact been at the Burrow for the last month. Things had been getting too dangerous for them to remain at their home.

"So, your parents are Death Eaters?" Harry asked, looking over at Zacharias who hadn't said a word since Harry destroyed the cup.

"Yeah," he mumbled in response.

Harry looked at Zacharias for a few moments, judging the sincerity in the shame he seemed to be feeling toward his parents. Eventually he responded. "I'm sorry."

Zacharias head shot up, his haunted eyes meeting Harry's own. "Susan Bones, you know her? She was my friend. Her grandparents, uncle, his family, and her aunt were all killed by Death Eaters. My parents might even have been involved in her aunt's murder. Susan's going to hate me now."

Ginny looked saddened by this revelation. "She might not. It wasn't your fault."

Zacharias just shrugged and looked down at his shoes.

* * *

"The Order should be here soon," Mr. Weasley said the next morning as the seven teenagers came downstairs for breakfast. 

Harry nodded, and no sooner had he done this, when Lupin and Tonks apparated into the kitchen.

"Wotcher, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, long time no see. I'm glad you guys are okay," Tonks greeted them, hugging both Hermione and Ginny, and then looked over at Neville, Luna, and Zacharias. "Sorry, I don't know your names."

"That's Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Zacharias Smith," Ginny answered, pointing to each of them in turn.

Tonks nodded, smiling at them. "You and Neville fought in the Department of Mysteries, right? And the battle at Hogwarts?"

Neville and Luna both nodded.

"And, Zacharias,…um…" Tonks trailed off uncomfortably, not remembering his name from anywhere.

Zacharias turned red. "I was in the D.A."

Tonks nodded enthusiastically. "Brilliant." She then turned her attention back to Harry. "We just heard that Irish Aurors were dealing with a Death Eater attack last night. It was at an inn, called Kendrick's Pub and Inn."

Harry nodded. "That was Branna's. We were staying there. Branna was killed."

"Could you tell me who the Death Eaters involved in the attack were?"

"It was Lucius Malfoy and that huge Death Eater from the attack on Hogwarts, I don't know his name."

"Thanks, Harry. I'll make sure to share that information with the Aurors."

"We haven't been reading the papers recently, I guess Azkaban had another breakout?" Harry asked. He had been wondering this since they saw Lucius Malfoy at inn. Last he had heard, Malfoy Sr. was still in Azkaban.

Lupin spoke up. "Actually, everyone that was in Azkaban is out now. The Dementors joined with Voldemort and they released everyone before they left."

"Just like Dumbledore said," Harry commented.

* * *

About twenty minutes later, some of the more trusted Order members were standing around the Weasley's kitchen, waiting for the meeting to begin. 

"Can I have everyone's attention so we can begin the meeting?" McGonagall spoke up after the last Order members arrived.

Once everyone settled down, she continued. "We have just learned that Harry found and destroyed all the Horcruxes, save Nagini…"

Harry spoke up. "That's not true. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Percy, Zacharias, Mrs. Dearborn, and Branna helped."

"Well, whatever the case may be," she replied as if this was trivial, although she looked at him with a little pride because of his comment, "the destruction of the Horcruxes means that we can now go after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named…"

Harry spoke up again. "Voldemort."

McGonagall as well as a many other Order members looked uncomfortable at the mention of his name.

Seeing this, Harry groaned and stood up. "Look," he said as he looked around the room at the twenty some Order members who had been trusted enough to come here, "if you can't even say his name, how are you going to fight him?"

Moody growled, "The same way we did in the past, boy."

"Yeah, and look at how well that turned out for you."

"Now, see here, Potter," Moody stepped menacingly toward Harry.

"Stop," Lupin spoke up, his voice quiet but sharp. "Harry's right. We made mistakes in the past. We thought he was gone, and he wasn't. We didn't trust the right people. But, now isn't the time to fight with each other."

With that, the Order members began making plans to go after Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

"Do we even know where Voldemort is hiding?" Harry asked McGonagall.

McGonagall nodded. "We do. We have it on good authority that he and the Death Eaters are hiding out at the Riddle house in a town called Little Hangleton, in England."

Harry nodded. He knew that place well. Then, his brows knitted in confusion. "Who is this 'authority' you got your information from?"

Several of the Order members shifted around, looking uncomfortable.

McGonagall sighed. "I can't tell you that, Harry."

Rushes of anger filled Harry's head, causing his ears to ring. "It was _him_ wasn't it?"

"Who?" Ginny asked, rubbing Harry's shoulders in an attempt to calm him down.

"_Snape_," Harry spat out, glaring around the room.

McGonagall's back straightened even more than usual as she gave Harry a stern look. "Yes, it is Professor Snape."

"_Professor_," Harry spat again. "I don't go to Hogwarts anymore. He's _traitor_ and _murderer_ to me." He looked around the room again, no one would meet his gaze. "I can't believe any of you trust him. He killed Dumbledore."

"We know that, Harry," McGonagall, trying a different tactic, said soothingly. "We have learned that Dumbledore and Snape had planned this…"

"Dumbledore planned to be killed?" Harry interrupted nastily. "I thought you were smart. I can't believe that you believe that rubbish."

McGonagall ignored him and continued. "During the past school year, Professor Snape told Dumbledore that he had, in an attempt to keep his cover, been forced to form an unbreakable vow with Narcissa Malfoy, who was worried for her son, Draco. He also told Dumbledore that Draco Malfoy had been ordered by He-Who-…Voldemort…to kill Dumbledore. If he failed, Draco and his family would be killed. Dumbledore and Professor Snape decided that if it came down to it, and Draco was unable to be persuaded to join our side, or if he was unable to kill Dumbledore, Snape would do it."

"And, how did you learn this?" Harry demanded. He was still angry, and didn't want to believe that any of this was true. But, some of the things that happened on that tower were questionable. For one thing, he remembered Dumbledore begging Snape. At the time Harry figured that Dumbledore was begging Snape not to kill him, but the more the thought about it, the stranger that seemed. Dumbledore didn't seem like the type of person to beg for his life. Harry still remembered what Dumbledore said to him in first year: To the well-organized mind, death was but the next great adventure. If Dumbledore really believed this, then it seemed strange that he would fear death so much that he would beg for his life.

"I had several talks with Dumbledore's portrait, as did Lupin, Tonks, Hagrid, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"And this is what he said to you?" Harry asked, looking to the others who had talked to Dumbledore's portrait.

They all nodded.

"Fine. Let's…uh…Let's continue the meeting then," Harry said. He needed to think about this more before he could get used to it, and not when everyone was looking at him as if they feared he was about to explode.

* * *

McGonagall nodded, turning to Charlie. "You know what to do. You have everything ready, right?" 

"Yes," Charlie answered. "I'll bring ten of them. I was able to recruit that many riders."

"Great, you might as well leave to get them back here in time. If that's alright with you Arthur, Molly?"

"It's fine. We'll find some place to keep them," Mr. Weasley answered.

"Okay, we'll probably be back here tonight sometime. You can tell me and the others what happened during the rest of the meeting when we get back," Charlie said to no one in particular before apparating.

"Okay, now, Bill, Fleur, how are things going with the Goblins?"

"They won't help us unless we pay the gold that Bagman owes them," Bill answered, clearly frustrated that all their efforts had been, for the most part, in vain.

"Well, then, I guess we are just going to have to forget about them." McGonagall answered, turning to Hagrid. "Hagrid…"

"Wait," Hermione interrupted, then flushed when she realized she had just interrupted her favorite teacher, and that said teacher was staring at her in surprise. "Sorry, Professor McGonagall, but how much does Bagman owe the Goblins?"

"Almost 400,000 galleons. We don't have the kind of money and we don't have enough people who can help donate that much," Bill answered.

Hermione looked at Harry, Ron, and Ginny, each of them was smiling. "We have that much money."

"You do?" Bill asked incredulously.

"That's right. The papers that were owled to us a few months ago were about Mrs. Dearborn's will. Mrs. Dearborn was the descendent of Ravenclaw who was killed about eight months ago. She left each of us 250,000 galleons," Ron answered.

Bill whistled in surprise. "Do you guys have the keys for the vaults?"

"No, we have to get them from the goblins at the bank. Will it be hard to get the money, we know that security has tightened."

"Well, since I work there, it will be a little easier for me. And, it doesn't hurt that one of the goblins working there is part of Ragnok's group," Bill answered smiling cheekily. "Fleur and I will go there right now to get the keys. If two of you can sign these papers, allowing me to take the money from your vaults, hopefully by tonight the goblins will be on our side."

"How did you happen to have the papers with you, Bill?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Oh," Bill looked over at Lupin and Tonks, "I was supposed to…"

Lupin interrupted. "It's alright, we can do that later."

Bill nodded, withdrawing the papers from his robe pocket and handing them over to Harry and Ginny, who both agreed to sign the papers. It didn't really matter which of them did it anyway, the four of them would split the money evenly later.

Possibly, as they had talked about late last night when Neville, Luna, and Zacharias had gone to bed, they would also be able to give some of money away to a charity or something. Harry had wanted to give some of it to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, but knew that that wouldn't happen – although they would be touched by the gesture, they would never accept it.

After Bill and Fleur disapparated, McGonagall continued where she had left off.

"Hagrid, you said you would bring Grawp?"

Hagrid nodded. "Grawpy has gotten better about listening to me. And, he said he wants to fight. I also thought about bringing Fluffy along. Grawpy can easily control him and spells bounce right off of both of them. Everyone has just got to make sure to say away from them, don't want to get stepped on, after all."

McGonagall paled a little, as did several other people in the room. "Yes, well, we just need to have a plan of attack ready then, and we'll be all set. I was thinking, and consulted Dumbledore about this – and he agreed – that it would be better to attack at night when we are more likely to catch them by surprise."

Everyone agreed that this was a good idea, and after some argument from Mrs. Weasley, they began deciding on a plan of action that included Harry and the others.

* * *

Later that night, the seven teenagers – Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Zacharias were practicing spells with Lupin, Tonks, Percy, Fred and George, Bill, and Fleur,. 

Bill and Fleur had returned an hour before announcing that the negotiations had been a success. Goblins were arriving in droves to the Weasleys, fully suited up in the indestructible metal that they were so famous for making.

Harry was just about to practice a strong shield charm when a roar came from the sky. Everyone stopped what he or she was doing to look up.

Black shadows were weaving in and out of clouds in the sky, heading toward a clearing near the Burrow.

Harry looked over at Lupin, who did not seem surprised.

"What are those?"

Lupin looked over at Harry. "That's Charlie and some of his friends."

Harry's head snapped back toward the sky, the shadows were now flying closer to the ground, and Harry was now able to see what had been making those huge shadows in the sky – dragons, ten of them and, atop each of those dragons, sat a person.

Once the ten dragon-trainers had landed, they set about securing the dragons.

"These are all Antipodean Opaleyes. They have much more mild temperaments than the ones used during the Triwizard Tournament," Charlie answered Harry's amazed look as he and the other trainers used magic to make a large enclosed pen that would hold the ten dragons. "We've trained them together so that they get used to each other, so we don't have to fear them attacking each other tomorrow. It also doesn't hurt that we have spent the last three years teaching them to obey our orders and allow us to ride them."

* * *

Deciding it was safer for everyone to gather at one place, all Order members were rounded up and were now sleeping in tents surrounding the Burrow. 

It was also agreed upon that people sleep in shifts; making sure that ten people were always awake, incase the Death Eaters and Voldemort tried attacking first.

That night everyone slept as well as anyone who was preparing to go to war the next day.

* * *

_Another A/N: I did not come up with the idea about Charlie bringing dragons to fight Voldemort. I borrowed it from a story I read recently. But, as I am unable to remember the title or author of the story, I was unable to credit the idea to them._


	18. Remember that you must die

_A/N: Thanks to pettybureaucrat, Snowy-Mel, evil-mastermind666, Brolly-ann-miller, and Cynthia Cacciola_ _for reviewing._

_Also, I am SO sorry about how long this took. I had many problems with this chapter. I guess I am not so great with the fighting scenes. After writing this, I have so much more respect for what JKR can do because not only has she written several fight scenes, she does them SO much better than I could ever wish to do. _

_Then, to make things worse, apparently did not want me to finish the story because for about three days, it would not allow me to upload the chapter. _

_Anyway, I promise to have the next – which is also the last – chapter out soon (hopefully – as long as I do not have the problem with uploading again)._

**Remember that you must die**

The next day was hectic. Everyone rushed around, continuously apparating in and out of the Burrow as an Order meeting ran non-stop.

During the meeting the plan to attack Voldemort's hangout was formed. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny as well as Lupin, Tonks, Moody, and Kingsley Shacklebolt would make their way to Voldemort and his most trusted Death Eaters, who would undoubtedly be guarding Voldemort, while the Order members, Goblins and the others would distract the remaining Death Eaters.

Everyone was told how to kill Nagini incase Harry was not around to do it himself. They were also warned of the possible consequences of performing the spell on Nagini.

Soon, work was ending for the day, and more people were crowding around inside the Burrow and on the grounds, waiting for the signal, save for Mr. Granger, his wife, and Aiden who would be remaining at the Burrow.

After Mrs. Weasley had served dinner, which very few of the anxious people at the Burrow ate, they prepared to leave.

Everyone at the Burrow were wishing their loved ones good luck and many were hugging and kissing, each fearing this would be the last time they would do so.

Hermione rushed over to her parents and Aiden and kissed each of them, telling them not to worry, but knowing by the looks on her parents face that they would do nothing but worry until she and the others returned.

At her friends' urging, Hermione took up her position at the portkey that Harry, Ron, and Ginny were holding.

They had decided that the best way to get all the people to the Riddle House was to create a large number of portkeys, which Lupin and Hermione had spent a portion of the day doing. It was just lucky that the Ministry official who was in charge of issuing portkeys was a member of the Order.

The portkeys were handed out one to each group of ten and soon, everyone was reappearing in the graveyard outside of the Riddle House.

Now at the graveyard that Harry had witnessed the rebirth of Voldemort only a few years ago, Harry looked at Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. "Ready?"

The three nodded, giving Harry small, but nervous smiles.

"We have to try and stay together. If we are separated, make sure you stay with a group. Do not go off on your own trying to find us."

Before they could make any sign of agreement, multiple loud popping noises, signaling the arrival of Death Eaters, echoed throughout the crowd of Order members, goblins, and dragons.

* * *

Within five minutes, about one hundred Death Eaters had apparated into the graveyard at the call of their master, throwing curses and hexes as they fought the crowd trying to drive them away from the Riddle House, and consequently, away from their leader. 

Harry threw a curse at an unknown Death Eater, while Ron shot a powerful stunning spell at one of the others.

Hermione and Ginny, close by, were throwing their own hexes at two large male Death Eaters, stunning one and causing the other to yell in surprise as, in turn, each of his four limbs turned to jelly – just as Harry's arm had done after Lockhart had deboned his arm in his second year.

Lupin, Tonks, Moody, and Shacklebolt, who would be following them into the house, were making their way over to them. As far as they could tell, the Order members and Goblins were having a fairly easy time of it, although they did see several bodies belonging to Order members and goblins, lying slain across the grounds. Most of the bodies, however, were that of Death Eaters. Apparently, Voldemort kept only his best and most vicious fighters close to him.

Once the four adults met up with the four teenagers, on silent agreement, they began making their way toward the house, mindful of the Death Eaters that were swarming around.

As they made their way toward the entrance of the house, about twenty-some Death Eaters apparated in front of them, blocking their way into the house. After the initial hundred or so Death Eaters had arrived, at least a hundred, maybe two hundred more had apparated into the graveyard.

Before they had much chance to curse any of the Death Eaters, Charlie and another dragon trainer flew in low on their dragons and fire soon engulfed the Death Eaters that had been standing in front of the door.

Ignoring the smell of burning flesh and hair and the screams of the burned Death Eaters, Harry and the others walked around the fallen Death Eaters and Harry blasted the door open.

Almost immediately after stepping in the door, they were met by a handful of Voldmort's more trusted followers – Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband, Rudolphus, Fenrir Greyback and two other werewolves.

Immediately, the two nameless werewolves, still in their human form as it was not a full moon, but fearsome just the same, lunged at Shacklebolt and Moody.

Tonks and Hermione watched anxiously for a chance to hex the werewolves without injuring Shacklebolt and Moody as the others turned back to the Lestranges and Greyback.

"Don't harm the boy, Greyback. My master wants him alive and healthy before he kills him," Bellatrix shrieked before shooting a hex at Lupin, which he quickly blocked.

Fighting ensured and Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lupin were able to effectively drive the Death Eaters back, although they were unable to seriously injury any.

They had just turned a corner when Hermione, Tonks, and Moody, who looked worse than ever before as he had several new deep scratches running across his face and arms, came running up behind them.

"Where's Shacklebolt?" Harry called over to Hermione as he blocked a curse from Bellatrix.

Hermione shook her head, signally to Harry that Shacklebolt had not survived the attack by the werewolves, and turned back to help Ron who was fighting the newly-arrived massive Death Eater from the attack at Hogwarts and Branna's Inn.

Harry turned back to his fight and was surprised to see that Bellatrix was gone. Harry looked around and was about to help Ginny with her fight, when he saw Nagini slither down a nearby hallway.

Harry aimed his wand and shot the now-familiar spell at Nagini, but missed. Before he could attempt the spell again, another Death Eater he had never encountered before apparated in front of him and shot a curse at him, causing a cut to form on his arm, blood seeping out. Harry turned his focus away from Nagini and shot his own curse at the Death Eater, successfully hitting his target.

He knew, while he was fighting the Death Eater that he need to get to Nagini before the snake escaped. As this flashed across his mind, Harry saw Moody out of the corner of his eye. Moody had not been occupied with a Death Eater and had made his way toward Nagini as, just like Harry, he had seen Nagini slithering down the hallway.

Before Harry could shout from him to stop, to take over Harry's own battle, so that Harry could go after Nagini himself, Moody raised his wand and shot the curse at Nagini, effectively causing the snake to explode in a shower of muscle, blood, and scales.

It seemed to Harry that Moody had survived the aftershocks that others seemed to experience from the spell, but, he knew that he was wrong when he saw Moody fall to the ground, his eyes, while open, completely expressionless - he was dead.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lupin shot a yellow beam of light at Greyback, hoping to knock him out, but Greyback quickly dodged the curse and sneered. 

"That your girlfriend, Lupin?" Greyback smirked, looking over at Tonks, who was attempting battling Rudolphus, and doing very well as the Death Eater showed definite signs of injury and weakness.

Lupin ignored the taunt and shot another hex and Greyback, this time successfully hitting Greyback. A small cut appeared on Greyback's face and blood began leaking from the wound.

Greyback brought his arm up, wiping the blood away and, seeing his chance for revenge, he jumped at Tonks, throwing her to the ground.

Lupin yelled in rage and, dove for Greyback, pulling him off Tonks. They began rolling around of the ground, Greyback's sharp nails digging into Lupin's flesh as Lupin, in turn, slammed his fist into Greyback's face, chest, and stomach – where ever he could reach.

Tonks, who had gotten up from the ground, stood anxiously watching closely for any chance to hex Greyback. Finally – after what seemed like hours to her – Tonks saw an opening and, full of fear for her lover, Tonks did something she had never done before. She shot the Avada Kedavra curse at Greyback, and, miraculously, the unforgivable curse hit its target.

Greyback slumped over, lying motionlessly on the floor and Tonks grabbed on to Lupin's arm, pulling with all her might to help him stand up.

"Thanks," Lupin smiled at Tonks and, ignoring the wounds Greyback had inflicted in their most recent fight, Lupin drew up his wand and shot a curse behind Tonk's back at a Death Eater who had been aiming his wand at Tonks.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Lupin, Tonks, and the newly-deceased Moody, had successfully seriously injured or killed the Death Eaters they had come across so far in the Riddle house, except, of course,for Bellatrix, who, sensing a loss, had apparated away, most likely to Voldemort himself.

Harry and the others began making their way up a nearby staircase, which Harry told the others lead to the room he had seen Voldemort in before, when a voice echoed through the house.

"Harry, we meet again," Voldemort stood at the top of the staircase, Bellatrix, Peter Pettigrew, Lucius and Draco Malfoy and Snape stood surrounding him.

Harry gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes.

Before anything could be done however, Voldemort spoke again. "Let us return to where we first met Harry. Where this first began."

With that, Voldemort apparated away.

Seconds later, Harry followed.

"Damn it, Harry!" Ginny cried and then turned to the others. "Godric's Hollow."

Ron and Hermione nodded and Ginny ran over to Hermione, grasping her arm and preparing herself for side-along apparition – she hadn't learnt to apparate yet and this was not the time to practice.

As Lupin and Tonkshadboth visited Godric's Hollow several times while trying to find clues about the teenagers' earlier disappearance, they knew exactly were to apparate and where soon reappearing at the Potters' old house.

"I kidnapped Ollivander, Harry Potter. Our wands can duel properly this time," Voldemort hissed raising his wand as Harry raised his.

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Lupin and Tonks engaged Bellatrix, Pettigrew, Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, and Snape in battle, but continued to watch Harry and Voldemort closely.

In the ruins, Harry and Voldemort were shooting curses at each other, each blocking or dodging their opponent's attacks.

Curses continued bouncing off the ruins of Harry's parents' house as they continued to fight.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Ginny fall to the ground, as Draco sent a curse at her.

For several agonizing seconds, Harry feared that Ginny was dead, but he breathed a sigh of relief when she got up, looking relatively unharmed.

Still, all the pain and anger that Voldemort has caused Harry, the death of his parents, of Sirius, the pain he had caused his friends, and Neville's parents raged through Harry and erupted through his wand with the words "Avada Kedavra."

Green light blasted through the air, but instead of hitting its target, it rebounded off a nearby stone pillar continuing to bounce off the ruins of the house.

Voldemort's snakelike face turned away from the progression of the spell and back to Harry, smirking evilly.

"Very good, Harry. So much anger in someone so young. You would do well to become one of my followers."

With that, Voldemort sent a disarming curse at Harry, and this time, he hit his mark.

Harry's wand leapt out of his hand and, although he tried desperately to grasp it in his hand once more, the wand flew about ten feet away.

"Will you join me, Harry? Leave the mudbloods and blood traitors behind?"

Harry growled, but stood his ground. Voldemort had his wand pointed at Harry's neck and, until Voldemort gave him an opening, Harry couldn't do anything.

But, then, miraculously, out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw it approaching. The green light that had been making its way around the ruins was returning, and, thank Merlin, it seemed to be heading toward Voldemort.

Not wanting to alert Voldemort to this discovery, Harry focused all his attention on the black-robed figure in front of him.

But, when Harry saw the gleam in Voldemort's eyes, he knew that Voldemort had also seen the curse.

"Killing you with your own curse would be ironic wouldn't it?" Voldemort asked, fisting his hand onto Harry's collar and pulling Harry in front of him. The curse hit another crumbling wall, and was now in position to hit Harry, heading straight for him.

A scream of "No!" was issued from Ginny, who had no longer been engaged in a fight and had been watching Harry and Voldemort anxiously, saw what was about to happen. Even as Harry yelled at her to stay back, Ginny ran forward and jumped at Harry.

A hush fell over everyone at Godric's Hollow.Those who had survived the battle at Godric's Hollowwatched in horror as three figures – that of Harry, Ginny, and Voldemort – fell to the ground.

A dead silence spread throughout the grounds. They stared in fascination, waiting to see what would happen next.

At first, none of the fallen figures moved. Then, moments later, Voldemort's body began to shift around.

* * *

_Another A/N: Before anyone reviews saying I didn't mention the Death Eaters, namely Lucius and Draco Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, when I said they "watched in horror as three figures…" there is a reason for it. A reason that everyone will, of course, find out about in the next (last) chapter._


	19. It is done

_A/N: Thanksto Your Tiny Dancer, Snowy-Mel, and pettybureaucrat for reviewing._

**It is done**

Exactly one month after Voldemort's defeat, many people were looking to celebrate the end of the war.

Celebrations broke out everywhere, one of which took place a Hogwarts. People who survived the war with Voldemort and his followers turned up. Now that the threat of Voldemort was over, many were happier than they had been in years.

Still, although there was much to be glad about, no one could forget that most had lost loved ones in the war - or, if lucky, had only spent the months - or years - leading up to the war in constant fear for their loved ones and had been fortunate enough not to lose them.

Back at Godric's Hollow, Ron had feared just that. When he watched his best mate and little sister fall to the ground and then seen Voldemort - who had fallen with them - begin to move, Ron had feared the worst. He thanked Merlin and who ever else might have been responsible that Voldemort's body moved only because Harry and Ginny were pushing him off of them, and that Voldemort truly was dead, struck down by a killing curse Harry had shot at him, a killing curse that after Harry explained what he had felt when he used it, had been born from love he felt for those he had lost.

Miraculously, his family had all survived, although some had been seriously injured. Percy would always have a limp; Fred was blind in one eye; his father had accumulated several scars in the battle when he protected Ron's mother from a curse aimed at her by a Death Eater. But, even with all of this, they were fine - much better off then others.

Death Eaters were still being collected by Aurors and put in prison for their crimes. Snape had been surprisingly helpful with that. After he was forced to kill Draco during the battle at Godric's Hollow to protect Ginny, Ron's opinion of Snape had improved some - although he still didn't like his old professor.

Ron looked up from the memorial that now stood at Hogwarts, paying respect tothehundreds who had died in the second war.

He traced his fingers over it as he read the names:

_Cedric Diggory...Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore...Deidre Dearborn...Branna Kendrick...Alastor Moody...Kingsley Shacklebolt..._

The list of names went on, so long that Ron didn't care to look anymore.

"Ready to go, love?" Ron asked Hermione squeezing her hand slightly to get her attention.

Hermione nodded, smiled softly at him, and allowed him to lead her over to where Harry and Ginny were talking.

Soon after, Hermione and Ginny walked off to go talk with their respective mothers, who were playing with Aiden.

"Hello, Ron, Harry," Percy called, making his way over to them, limping as he did so.

They both acknowledged the greeting. The three stood in silence for a minute, until Harry noticed that Percy was looking at Ron uncomfortably, as if he wanted to talk to him alone.

"Well, I'll leave you both alone. I need to go find Ginny, anyway."

After Harry walked off in search of Ginny - although he knew exactly where she was - Percycleared his throat to get Ron's attention.

"I just wanted to apologize again, you know, for the past couple years." Percy grimaced at how that sounded.

Ron shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore, Percy. You made up for it, with all that you did for us. Thank you for that by the way."

Percy reddened slightly. He was about to say something else when he noticed that Ron's eyes kept drifting to the left. Percy followed Ron's gaze and smiled a little when he saw who the object – or rather the objects – of Ron's attention were.

"Are you sure you'll be able to take care of Aiden? You and Hermione are both so young."

Ron shifted his gaze from Hermione and Aiden who were sitting and talkingwith Mrs. Weasley and turned back to look Percy in the eyes. "I know, Percy. But, we have each other. We'll figure it out."

Percy nodded. "Don't mess things up with her. Bill and Charlie were catching me up on everyone and told me earlier how you at Hermione had a 'falling out' last year, your sixth year."

Ron sighed. "It's been a while since then. I've grown up."

"I know. You're both really lucky to have each other. Don't make the mistake I did."

At Percy's sad tone, Ron was about to ask him what he was talking about, when someone behind Percy interrupted him.

"Hello, Percy."

Percy turned around at the sound of the voice he hadn't heard in years. His heart began beating faster, his palms becoming sweaty.

"P…Penelope?"

Ron smiled, looking at the awkwardness between them. "I'm going to go find Hermione." He patted Percy on the back and left, but not before whispering to him, his words echoing Percy's previous words to him. "Don't mess things up with her, Percy."

After leaving Percy and Penelope to catch up, Ron gave a short greeting to Zacharias, who had recently been released from St. Mungos after his parents - his own parents - cursed him for siding against them. Ron did not spend a long time talking to Zacharias as Susan Bones was with him and they seemed to not want to be interrupted.

Soon, Ron was making his way over to Hermione who was now standing with a small crowd of children, whose attention was on a large box in front of her.

"Getting rid of all the hairy gits, right?" Ron asked, looking down at the kittens warily.

They wouldn't bother him so much if they weren't Crookshanks' progeny. Because Crookshanks had spent so much time at the Burrow, he had gotten "acquainted" with one of the Weasleys' cats. This "acquaintance" led to eight little hairballs, each of which had a squashed face and a fondness for driving Ron insane.

"Well..." Hermione said, grinning at Ron.

"What? We can't keep any of them. We aren't keeping any, right?"

"Well, Aiden really wanted one of them and...I don't know. With this, I couldn't say no to him."

Ron's eyes narrowed. "Which one is it?"

Hermione smiled again, knowing how the answer will affect him. "He decided – on his _own_, mind you – that he wanted…Floo."

Ron groaned. "No. Not the cat that jumps head first into the unlit fireplace, covers herself in ash, and then runs up to our room and rubs the ash all over my clothing – and _only_ my clothing."

"Ahhh, you poor baby. You'll live," Hermione smirked, before she leaned up and kissed him lightly on the lips.

A few minutes later, Tonks and Lupin came up to them.

"Do you want one of the kittens, Tonks? Lupin?" Hermione asked in way of greeting.

"I was thinking about getting one," Tonks answered, looking down at the kittens.

"Well, help yourself."

Tonks nodded, looking at them for several minutes before bending down and scooping up the only pure black kitten of the litter.

"I like this one," she said, bring the kitten's squished face up to her own. She laughed when its sand-paper tongue came out and liked her nose. "I think I'm going to call him Salem," Tonks said, turning to look back at Hermione.

"I saw Aiden a few minutes ago. He was carrying one of the kittens around," Tonks continued.

Hermione chuckled. "Yeah, he decided on keeping Floo. Coincidently, Floo is the kitten Ron gets along with the least."

"Yeah, it better just be a coincidence, Hermione," Ron mock growled, then smiled and winked at her.

Hermione grinned in response, turning back to converse with Tonks, while Ron talked with Lupin.

Luna and Neville joined tha a few minutes later. Neville had been released from St. Mungos about a week before where he had undergone treatment for the curses that had lain him up, unconscious,for almost two weeks.

"How are you doing?" Ron asked Neville, to which Neville nodded, replying that he was fine.

Luna drifted over to thebox of kittens watching them fora few minutes before bending downand pulling one of the many orange ones out.

She brought it up to her face and began talking to it. "I'm going to name you Crumple-Horned Snorkack. You will be very proud of your name one day when it's proven that Crumple-Horned Snorkacks are real..."

Hermione looked at if she was about to say something about the name, but Ron bent down to whisper in her ear. "Bite you tongue, Hermione," his voice breathless with laughter in her ear.

Hermione glared at Ron.

Luna continued talking to her new kittens. "And, you will be 'Snor' for short," Luna said, still talking to the kitten, "or, maybe, 'Crum.'"

At this last statement, Luna walked away to join Neville who was waiting a little ways away from the crowd of children who had gathered to look at the kittens. Her departure had caused her to miss Ron's reaction to Luna's comment about the kitten's nickname.

Ron's head had snapped up and his ear's were quickly turning red.

"Bite _your_ tongue, Ron," Hermione said, looking up at Ron and smiling sweetly.

* * *

After Hermione had found nice homes for all the kittens she had gone over to sit, once more, with Mrs. Weasley. 

"Ron does so well with Aiden," Mrs. Weasley commented as she watched her youngest son and Aiden rolled a quaffle back and forth to each other in the grass.

Hermione smiled and nodded in agreement. "In a way, I was surprised by that. But, of course, spending so much time with his siblings and cousins - not to mention the younger kids at Hogwarts - made him used to dealing with kids."

Mrs. Weasley nodded and looked over at Hermione. "You both will be fine, I think. Remember though, if you need anything..."

"We know Mrs. Weasley, thank you." Hermione reached out, squeezing the older woman's hand.

"You can stay with us as long as you need, of course. Have you and Ron made plans...?" Mrs. Weasley's voice drifted off.

She didn't need to finish the sentence though. Hermione knew what Mrs. Weasley was asking. Ron hadn't asked her to marry him yet, and frankly, Hermione was a little - okay, very - disappointed. She knew that Ron was a little slow about getting the point, but she hoped he got the point sooner about this then he did the last time.

* * *

Hermione need not have worried, however. 

While Ron pushed the ball back and forth to Aiden, he was contemplating that very issue, and decided that there was no better time to do it.

"Aiden, let's go see Hermione," Ron said, getting up, brushing his pants off, and lifting Aiden up into his arms.

"Daddy!" Aiden cried, pointing down at the kitten that was lying curled in a ball where Aiden had been sitting a second before. "Fwoo!"

"Okay, little man, I'll get Floo." With that, Ron bent down and scooped the sleeping kitten up, laying him in Aiden's arms.

Aiden laughed him glee and smacked him lips across the kitten's head. The kitten woke up from the smacking noise but did not seem upset about it. The kitten's little tongue shot out and slid across Aiden's cheek.

"How do you get along with him so well? Floo seems to hate me," Ron asked, seriously, looking down at Aiden.

Aiden just laughed.

* * *

"Hi, love," Ron greeted, making his way over to Hermione and his mother. 

"Hi, Ron," Hermione answered, although she blushed a little. She liked Ron calling her 'Love,' but it was a little embarrassing for him to do so in front of his mother.

"Hi, Mum. Could you hold Aiden for a while, I need to talk to Hermione," Ron asked, turning to his mother.

Mrs. Weasley smiled in agreement and, taking Aiden, met up with her husband who was talking to Lupin and Tonks.

"Hermione," Ron began, sitting down beside Hermione.

"Ron."

"I...uh...Well,...I wanted to talk to you," Ron stumbled nervously through the sentence, unsure of how to ask her. He had just come to the decision that now was the time to ask her, but, although he had been thinking about asking her for a while now, he just realized he had forgotten to get a ring. _Could this get any worse?_

"Okay...What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, you know, I love you. And, Aiden as well..." Ron trailed off, looking over at Hermione, hoping that she would know what he was trying to say. Unfortunately, Hermione had tears forming in her eyes, and they didn't look like happy tears.

"If you aren't ready for a family, Ron, I understand..."

"What!" Ron all but shouted in surprise. _This was going all wrong. First, no ring, and now this?_ "That isn't what I'm saying at all. It's the opposite of what I am trying to say really."

Hermione's brows knitted in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"What I'm trying to say is that...I want us to be a family. You, me, and Aiden."

Hermione gasped in shock, looking into Ron's blue eyes, which were gazing so intently at her.

"Will you marry me, Hermione?"

Hermione broke out into a smile and jumped into Ron's arms, crying out happily. "Yes."

* * *

_A/N: Well, that is it. I could have continued a little more, but I thought this was a nice place to stop as I gave several hints to what various people's lives after the war were going to be like (or, at least, who the people would end up with)._

_Thank you to everyone who reviewed throughout the story. I really appreciated the reviewers and thereviews. They really encouraged me and I am glad that so many people enjoyed the story._


End file.
